Is it ethical to have a second child so that your first might live?

‘Saviour siblings’ are children who are conceived so that they might provide a transplant to an older sibling with a life-threatening illness. While such cases are a medical rarity, they raise important ethical questions – both for the families that must make a choice about conceiving a saviour sibling, and for society at large. Is this a situation where intense emotions can cloud ethics for parents, and risk devaluing the ‘saviour sibling’ as a person in their own right? Or is it morally justified, especially in cases where parents planned to conceive an additional child regardless? Created as part of a BBC Two series that poses ‘ethical questions through real-life stories’, this short explores the perspectives of two parents and several faith leaders on the ethics of saviour siblings, including one mother who had a daughter that ultimately saved her son’s life.