Survey of BioEthical Attitudes
 
Conducted by James Hughes PhD
Public Policy Studies, Trinity College
Trinity College, Hartford CT 06106



1. If an 80 year-old woman has an 80% chance of dying within a year, should her access to expensive technologies (such as transplants) be restricted by government-provided health insurance?

Yes
No

2. How strongly do you support or oppose these movements?

Strongly
support

Support

Indifferent

Oppose

Strongly
oppose

Don't
know

environmental conservation

abortion rights

pro-life/anti-abortion

animal rights

right-to-die

national health insurance

trade union movement

drug legalization

secular humanism

transhumanism

anti-globalization

world federalism

 

3. Please tell me whether or not you think it should be possible for a pregnant woman to obtain a legal abortion if...

Yes

No

a) If there is a strong chance of serious defect in the baby?

b) If she is married and does not want any more children?

c) If the women's own health is seriously endangered by the pregnancy?

d) If the family has a very low income and cannot afford any more children?

e) If she became pregnant as a result of rape?

f) If she is not married and does not want to marry the man?

 

4. Do you believe that women with unplanned pregnancies should be permitted to have abortions if they want them:

Yes

No

1) during the first three months of pregnancy

2) during the second three months of pregnancy

3) during the last three months of pregnancy

 5. Which position on human cloning most closely resembles your own?

Human cloning for therapeutic or reproductive purposes is a violation of human dignity and should be forbidden by law.
Human cloning should be permitted for research and therapy, so long as the embryos are never implanted to make babies.
Human cloning should be permitted for research and therapy, and reproductive cloning should be permitted once it has a higher success rate and is safe for the child.
Human cloning, both therapeutic and reproductive, should be legal now.

 

6. When a person has a disease that cannot be cured, do you think doctors should be allowed
by law to end the patient's life by some painless means if the patient and his family request it?

Yes
No


7. Medical researchers often use animals in painful and fatal medical experiments.
Please consider the following list of animals and consider whether you believe researchers
should be allowed to use this kind of animal in painful and fatal experiments that have a
clear benefit to human beings (not cosmetics research, for instance), do not contribute
to the extinction of the species, and for which no other animal can be used?

Yes

No

birds

cats

chimpanzees

dolphins

wolves

dogs

bears

fish

rats



8. Do you believe that parents, consulting with their pediatrician, should be permitted to
discontinue medical treatments that may preserve the life of a week-old newborn, if:

Yes

No

the newborn has a normal brain, but
has severe physical deformities that
will cause death within several months

the newborn has a normal brain, but has
severe physical deformities that will cause
death within several years

the newborn has a normal brain, but has
severe physical deformities that will cause
death within twenty years

the newborn has a normal brain, and will
live a normal life span, but has severe
and disabling disfigurement of the face,
arms and legs

the newborn has an able brain and body,
but has a condition that will cause
constant pain for the rest of his or her life

the newborn has an able body, but has
such severe brain damage that s/he will
only learn a few words and simple tasks,
such as how to feed themselves

the newborn has an able body, but has
such severe brain damage that s/he will
never learn any tasks or how to
communicate

the newborn has an able body, but has
such severe brain damage that s/he will
never wake up, and will always require
a feeding tube



A woman may be unable to bear her own children, yet have fertile eggs.
Today, doctors can take her eggs, and some sperm from her husband, and
fertilize her eggs outside her body. These eggs can then be transplanted into
the womb of another woman. These “surrogate mothers” or “birth-mothers”
are usually married women with children who sign a contract to allow the genetic
parents to adopt the child after birth. In return she accepts a payment,
usually thousands of dollars, for her time and effort.



9. Do you believe that surrogate motherhood should be permitted?

Yes
No

10. Whether you believe that surrogate motherhood should be permitted or not,
in those rare occasions when the birth-mother decides that she wants to keep the child, do you believe that:

The birth-mother should be allowed to keep the child because she has a relationship to it,
from pregnancy and birth, that is more important than the biological relationship of the genetic parents
The birth-mother should be required to give the child to the genetic parents,
because it is not really her child
The birth-mother should be required to give the child to the genetic parents,
because she already agreed to do so
The child should go to the parents who will provide the best home



11. A 70 year-old person, who has not previously expressed an opinion towards
whether s/he would want to be kept alive, has fallen into a coma.
Should the person's relatives be permitted, in consultation with a doctor,
to discontinue medical treatments that may preserve the person's life, if:

Yes

No

the person may awake from the coma,
but has a terminal illness that will
cause death within several months

the person may awake from the coma,
but will be paralyzed below the neck
for the rest of his or her life

the person may awake from the coma,
but have severe and disabling
disfigurement of the face, arms and legs

the person may awake from the coma,
but will be in constant pain for the
rest of his or her life

the person may awake from the coma,
but will have such severe brain damage
that they will only re-learn a few words
and simple tasks, such as how to use a spoon

the person may open their eyes and
move, but have such severe brain
damage that they will never re-learn any tasks
or how to communicate

the person will not awake from the
coma, and will always require
a feeding tube



12. Do you agree or disagree with the following statements?

Strongly Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

"Humans should not 'play God' through genetic engineering."

"A computer that thinks like a human being, and is not a threat to humans, should be granted human rights."

"God gave humanity dominion over the Earth."

"Human genetic engineering should be banned."

"Homosexuals should be allowed to use medical technologies to have children of their own."

"I never want to be kept alive by machines."

"The people running the country don't really care what happens to me."


Strongly Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

"Humans should stop interfering in Earth's natural processes."

"The rich are getting richer, and the poor poorer."

"Doctors are only in it for the money."

"People should be allowed to experiment with drugs as long as they don't harm others"

"Most people with power try to take advantage of people like me."

"Those who violate God's rules must be punished."

“I would be interested in being frozen before death if I could be thawed later and given a new healthy body."

           

“I would be interested in having my mind recorded into a computer before my death if I could be a conscious person within the machine."

“Artificial intelligence will be such as radical threat to humanity that it should be banned."

13. Which term best describes your religious viewpoint?

Catholic
Protestant
Born-again or evangelical Christian
Mormon
Jewish
Muslim
Bahai
Buddhist
Hindu
Pagan or animist
Unitarian-Universalist
Other religion
Religious humanist
Spiritual
Secular humanist
Agnostic
Atheist
None of the above
Don't know

14. Which of these terms best describes your political beliefs?

Communist
Left anarchist
Libertarian socialist
Green
Social democrat/democratic socialist
Radical
Progressive
US-style liberal
Moderate
Christian Democrat
Conservative
European Liberal
Libertarian
Anarcho-capitalist
Far right (racial nationalist, [neo-]fascist, Third Wave, etc.)
Other
Not political

15. Are both of your parents still alive?

Yes
No

16. Have you ever had a life-threatening illness?

Yes
No

17. How old are you?

18. What is your gender?

Male
Female
Transgender

19. What is the last year of education that you have completed?

Some high school
High School graduate
Some college
College graduate
Masters degree
Some doctoral work, professional degree or more

20. Do you have children?

Yes
No

21. What is your social class?

Wealthy
Professional-Managerial
Middle-Class
Working Class
Poor or Unemployed