Monthly Message - Designer Babies: A Costly Path to Hell
In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) is a global industry currently valued at $25–35 billion. Over the next decade, the IVF industry is expected to add at least another $10 billion in value. Much of this
increase is anticipated to come from genome-testing companies like Orchid. Orchid tests fertilized eggs (embryos) for genetic diseases once the IVF process is underway, allowing people seeking to get pregnant via IVF to decide which embryo to implant based on the likelihood of genetic disease. The idea is to simply choose the embryo with the least chance of carrying a genetic disorder.
The IVF industry, Orchid, and the broader infertility market are booming, as I laid out in June’s Monthly Message titled Venture Capitalists and Masturbation So why am I doubling down on this
topic when there are so many other financial and ethical issues plaguing our world? Two reasons:
- I believe infertility is one of the most serious issues we face today. For all other issues matter not if we cease to exist—and a host of different issues will arise if existence comes about by means other than the self-giving act of conjugal love.
- A healthy society,
or at least one striving to be healthy, must understand that children are a gift, not a commodity. We must also grasp the difference between a gift and a commodity—something I am not convinced most people truly understand, despite many conversations with friends, family, and well-intentioned individuals.
There is no doubt that companies like Orchid, which develop breakthroughs in what is essentially “designer baby” science,
will make a great deal of money. If you want a sure investment, then by all means, put your money into this industry. However, many people grow uneasy at the thought of designer babies. Just look at the comments on the viral interview Orchid founder Noor Siddiqui did with Ross
Douthat. But why do we feel this moral unrest?
Interestingly, most people do not share the same discomfort with IVF in general. This, of course, is a logical inconsistency. People are uncomfortable with designer baby practices because these involve choosing one life over another for superficial reasons. They also object because such practices are available only to the wealthy, threatening to
widen the gap between social classes. Take, for example, Paris Hilton—who used IVF and surrogacy simply because she did not want to endure pregnancy and “get fat” (yes, that is a real and true sentence). Yet don’t these same issues exist within IVF practices already?
For the typical woman undergoing IVF, 10–20 eggs are produced, about 70% of which are fertilized and
become unique embryos (the earliest form of human life). Once the woman selects which embryo to implant, the remaining embryos are discarded or frozen. IVF is therefore absolutely a process of deciding who gets to live and who doesn’t—for the vain reason of believing one has a “right” to a child.
As for accessibility, IVF costs on average more than $50,000. Not many
people I know have that kind of money lying around—perhaps I need to travel in different circles!
Although these reasons are strong enough to oppose IVF and its logical conclusion—designer baby technology—there is an even more powerful reason: we are all children of God. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states in paragraph 2378:
“A child is not something owed to one, but is a gift. The ‘supreme gift of marriage’ is a human person. A child may not be considered a piece of property, an idea to which an alleged ‘right to a child’ would lead. In this area, only the child possesses genuine rights: the right ‘to be the fruit of the specific act of the conjugal love of his parents,’ and ‘the right to be respected as a person
from the moment of his conception.’”
IVF, designer-baby technologies, and even surrogacy are reprehensible because they either deny the right to life of discarded embryos and/or the right of the child to be the fruit of his or her parents’ conjugal love. If technology is used to assist in conception, that is one thing; but if it replaces or distorts the marital act,
then we deny the truth that a child is a gift. Consciously or not, we accept the idea that a child is a commodity. That acceptance leads us down a wide—and costly—path to Hell.
Still, as I and many other Christians have said before: a child conceived through surrogacy or IVF is still a child of God, to be loved endlessly and already loved infinitely by the Creator.
This truth extends as well to children conceived outside of marriage. All human beings are loved by our Lord Jesus Christ. But there is a right way to conceive human life, and many wrong ways. Our Lord does not give arbitrary laws, moral teachings, or commandments. Everything that comes from Him has divine purpose, and we would be wise to obey.
Finally, we must ask:
why are we creating an industry that plunges people into debt to do something that can be done naturally and freely? And if natural conception is not possible due to medical reasons, perhaps adoption should be embraced. As of 2018, there were 153 million orphans worldwide.
