Order your designer baby today!

Feb

Order your designer baby today!

Posted by Ginkgo100 Labels: consumerism, cynicism, ethics, human rights, news stories

Once, babies were considered gifts from God. Then we invented in vitro fertilization and took God out of the equation.

Now that babies are commodities, it stands to reason that we should be able to custom-order them. And finally, we can, thanks to Fertility Institutes of Los Angeles, California.

This clinic allows prospective parents to choose cosmetic traits in their offspring, such as hair color and eye color. Before today, baby trends included stroller brands and popular first names. Now baby trends can include baby blues!

Can we go any further on the path to making human life a commodity rather than a sacred gift? I'm asking seriously, not rhetorically. Leave an answer in the comments.

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Artful Frog · 841 weeks ago

There is a clinic in Atlanta that also offers that same service. In fact I was planning on touching this subject myself.

As for your question, I am sure they will find ways to make life more of a commodity than a gift. Give them 10 or 20 years and they will find a way. Granted, as long as the world last!

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Der Wolfanwalt · 841 weeks ago

Well, it isn't new, but we've already been "de-selecting" children based on the probability or presence of birth defects. It ain't just Down's Syndrome, either. Apparently now club foot is considered a capital offense. That one cuts particularly close to home because my fiancee was born with a very light case of club foot. If she had been born to any other family, she might not have actually made it out in one piece.

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Anna · 839 weeks ago

To take your question literally, I would say yes. Custom-designing a baby is certainly deplorable, but it is not the end of the line for treating human life as a commodity. One example of something worse that comes to my mind is growing a person in order to have spare body parts for others.