Creating a Designer Baby

2208 Words5 Pages

“One need not be deeply religious or oppose abortion to be troubled by the prospect of a society in which, as bioethicist Alexander Capron puts it, ‘The wanted child becomes the made-to-order child’" (Shannon). With rising concerns of building a baby through eugenics and IVF or In Vitro Fertilization, the government, court systems, activists, and public media is starting to take notice. Being able to pick your babies’ generic make up would be an ethical disaster with a slippery slope into an era where one’s child is created by man with build-a-baby qualities instead of the natural creation of a new life. Creating a designer baby through IVF technology would have severe consequences not only affecting this generation by all the future generations to arise. The idea of bettering the human race and one’s family has been around since the 1930s and 1940s that was later dismissed when the Nazis attempted to change humanity to create the Arian race (Dr. Nicholson); however, the process of IVF and test tube babies are much more recent (Baird). Embryologist Jacques Cohen was one of the first people to pioneer a new technique that would eventually lead to what we use today, which is IVF (Shannon). This new form of IVF will be the slippery slope to eugenics, creation of siblings to become a spare part back up, trait selection from a shopping cart, and tampering with the building blocks of life. Depending on what source one looks at, there are many ‘first’ test tube babies through IVF and each person has a unique tie to the subject of Designer Babies. Linda Geddes writes that Connor Levy made history in Philadelphia, after his parents screened the genomes from a batch of their embryos for abnormalities, to pick the healthiest... ... middle of paper ... ...: Regional Business News. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. International Business, Times. “Will You Custom-Design Your Unborn Baby? Ethics Say NO!.” International Business Times 03 Oct. 2013. Regional Business News. Web. 04 Nov. 2013 Iredale, R, et al. “What Choices Should We Be Able to Make About Designer Babies? A Citizens’ jury Of Young People In South Wales.” Health Expectations 9.3 (2006):207-217. CINAHL with Full Text. Web. 06 Nov. 2013. Park, Alice. “Designer Baby.” Time 156.16 (2000): 102. Business Source Premier. Web. 02 Nov. 2013. Peterson-lyer, Karen. “The Limits Of Genetic Control.” Designer Children: Reconciling Genetic Technology, Ferinism, & Christian Faith. 170: Pilgrim Press, 2004. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 13 Nov. 2013. "UK May Approve Creating Babies with DNA from 3 People." Fox News. FOX News Network, 28 Jan. 2013. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.

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