My Sister's Keeper: An Ethical Dilemma

A few days ago, I finished reading My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. The story is about a family that is comprised of a stay-at-home mother named Sara, a father who is a firefighter named Brian, a son named Jesse, a daughter named Kate, and another daughter named Anna. When Kate is two-years-old, she is diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia called acute promyelocytic leukemia or APL. When the doctor runs tests to see if anyone in the immediate family is a genetic match for Kate, the tests come up negative. Sara and Brian then decide to turn to in-vitro fertilization to create a child who is the exact genetic match for Kate. In comes Anna; when Kate needs anything to combat the cancer (in terms of bodily fluids like blood and body parts), Anna is the one to give it to her. She doesn't necessarily have any choice - her parents make all of the medical decisions for her. Near the beginning of the book, Anna sees a lawyer to gain a medical emancipation for herself. And I'll stop there.

At first, when I heard about the book and how the parents essentially created Anna so that Kate would live, I thought it was a very selfish thing to do, and that it wasn't fair that they didn't even consider Anna when they did this. However, as I actually read the book and thought about it, I realized that no one knows what they would do if thrust into a situation like that, and you can't really judge someone unless and until you have been in that situation yourself. No, they didn't think of Anna when they conceived her via IVF, but they were thinking about saving the daughter that they already knew. The daughter that they already spent time with. The daughter who they had only had two short years with. The daughter who they were afraid of losing. They were just trying to be the best parents that they could be, and although one may not agree with some of their choices, one still needs to respect what they did, because it would be a hard decision for anyone. They love all of their kids. They wanted them all to be safe and happy. But sometimes, maybe the best of intentions aren't enough. Maybe sometimes, love isn't even enough.