Designer Babies
Designer babies are an extremely controversial topic in today’s society. As our science progresses in society, we develop ways in which we are able to predict physical characteristics as well as diseases just by looking at the genes of an unborn baby. We could use this understanding to then “design” our own babies, choosing which traits they will have, and which ones they wont. This could be done using IVF, by implanting an embryo into the uterus of a woman after the fertilization has already occurred, as well as PGD, the analysis of the genes in an embryo. With this science, they are able to create an embryo with all the desired traits and implant this into the female to allow the fetus to develop. This is a very expensive process and is also very controversial in the scientific community. First, the fact that it is so expensive will lead to only the wealthy being able to cure their lineage of a particular disease as well as choosing more desirable traits, where the poor will not have that opportunity. Additionally, the idea of being able to choose the trait of your child seems ethically wrong and against nature and religion. This is a process that could help save many lives of people who have fatal inheritable diseases, but it can also lead down a slippery slope towards people choosing every trait for their child and “playing God” when it comes to making babies. As the science continues to progress, we need to make sure we set boundaries for what is ethically right and what is wrong for us to control.
The Embryo Project Encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved September 29, 2020, from https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/ethics-designer-babies
Hercher, L. (2020, April 02). Designer babies aren’t futuristic. They’re already here. Retrieved September 29, 2020, from https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/10/22/139478/are-we-designing-inequality-into-our-genes/
Pang, R., & Ho, P. (2016, February 11). Designer babies. Retrieved September 29, 2020, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1751721415300063
