Persuasive Essay On Designer Babies

It is estimated that about 8 million children per year (6%) are born with serious genetic disorders. Imagine going to the doctor’s office on a sunny day with your partner, just to find out that you are carriers of a genetic disease which will most likely result in your baby’s death. All your dreams and hopes would be crashed and your hearts broken. What if you were then told that there’s a way science could solve this global issue? The term “Designer Babies” has been thought of as science fiction for a long time now to describe babies that have been genetically altered while still in the embryo form for good-looks, intelligence and to be free of genetic disease. With the new advanced reproductive technologies available, this dream could turn into reality. However, is it ethically correct to change children before they are even born? There is a lot more to this topic that has not yet been said.

In the meantime, doctors are not yet able to genetically engineer a baby’s eye color, height and other simple traits, but they are able to screen for genetic disorders, select gender and
PGD means taking a 3-day old embryo from a woman and taking 1 of its 6 cells which will then be tested for genetic disease. Embryos that have the least percentage of developing genetic disorders will be implanted into the woman’s womb. PGD can also be used for couples who would like to have a “savior child”. This term refers to parents who already have a child which is sick and in need of a transplant. Some clinics have already started using this method to select traits such as gender, but this is not legal in places like the UK. Many ethicists are against this, they think that soon it will be like picking from a restaurant menu, “I would like to have a blonde girl with blue eyes, healthy and intelligent, please!”