Eugenics

"American society does not do what it should to help severely disabled children and their families."
--Arthur Caplan, MSNBC

My question is why should it? What responsibility does society bear to those who should never reproduce?
I'm firmly of the opinion that if someone has a genetic disorder that can be passed on they should not in any way be aided that might lead to them reproducing and passing on the disorder. All we'll end up doing is creating a human race in which the disorder is ubiquitous. We now have the power to directly influence our evolution through breeding, because we understand how it works and because we as a society have finally accepted that humans are in fact subject to the same laws as the rest of nature.
Animals that are selectively bred can be made stronger or weaker. Some show animals, for instance are uselessly weak and have disorders because they've been selectively inbred for "attractive" traits. While the risk do to far less interference is less in humans, having society cater to the diseased and weak does nothing for the human race as a whole and it's future survivability, while catering to an individual. Society can not cater to an individual over the entirety of our species.

People complain that this is eugenics. Yes it is. We're not breeding out race, or committing genocide. Diversity is GOOD for survival. What is bad is encouraging the survival of known defects and weaknesses that are easily defined.

For example there is a rare genetic disorder that causes a disease called harlequinism, in which the person's skin remains dry, cracks and invites infection. They also produce new skin cells at a rate around 15 times normal, requiring excessively high calorie requirements and non-stop moisturizing treatments to keep from dying from the disease.
Treating these people so that they can live decent lives is fine.
However one family insists that their two daughters, who have the full disease and will pass the genes on to any offspring, should have families of their own. Let them adopt. Why should children be cursed before birth with a disease that not only means a painful, difficult existence, but that they if they in turn have children, will weaken the human genetic code and potentially our species as a whole and it's ability to survive future catastrophe, just so they can fulfill their selfish desire to have their own children.

I don't think there is anything wrong with putting the long-term survival of humanity over all else. While the above is a rare disease, there are many others that are more widespread, and for which people are only now surviving at all because of advances in medical science. While giving them life is one thing, allowing them to essentially spread fatal diseases could in the long term, cause permanent problems for humanity. What if a disaster struck keeping people from getting to moisturizer after a large portion of the population was living with this disease? They would all die of infection within weeks.
Those that live with it know the danger, for instance one of the girls is partially blind because the hardening of her skin on her eyelids caused damage to her eyes. This is not something to risk passing on.

The idea that we can't or shouldn't do what we can to improve the survivability of humanity through careful consideration is a ridiculous and out dated notion based on the idea that humans are somehow different from other animals in such a way that it is "wrong".

Evolution is a FACT and it is possible for both strengths and weaknesses to evolve. Usually, weaknesses disappear, because the bearers die. Now, humans with such weaknesses do not die. They pass on their genes. This is a danger, even if it is a minor one at this time. Refusing to acknowledge it because of unfounded beliefs is insane.
The one ray of hope, however, is in the growing field of genetics where scientists just may be able to manipulate and improve or replace defective genes in humans. I think that alternative means which are less dangerous, like those with known genetic disorders voluntarily choosing not to pass on their defective genetic code, would be much safer, as the consequences of manipulating genes is not yet fully known.

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Note: The link in the comment below is a bit graphic, so take that into consideration before you watch it. It shows a baby who was born with the disease I mention above, Harlequinism. It shows how bad the disease can be.