Dethroner had an interesting discussion about a clinical trial regarding the chemical composition of what is believed to be “commitment.” The idea being that one day scientists may be able to develop commitment in a bottle. The question I pose is whether its ethical to create this medicine. I would assume that this drug would be prescribed to spouses that have cheated and are struggling with commitment. Is it right to create a connection that is not there naturally?

My gut instinct would say that its wrong to chemically create anything that could be used to manipulate people. Would we be ok if there was a love pill people could take to create an attraction? We would probably say a pill like that would be unethical because the chance for someone to be taken advantage of is high. The same could be said about a pill that would make someone want to have sex; there’s no way we’d allow a drug like that on the market. A natural sign of someone that doesn’t want to be in a relationship is cheating behavior. Is it a disease if someone doesn’t want to be married?

One tenet we have in America is that people are allowed to make free choices about who they marry and who they stay married to. A “commitment in a bottle” type drug would attempt to override someone’s “true feelings” and try to keep a relationship that isn’t really there. Furthermore, I do think the potential of abuse remains high since there are many people that would like to find a way to tame a cheating spouse. If my spouse cheated on me I certainly would look for anything to keep the marriage together including putting her on medication.

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