PGD the New Eugenics

Different men are biologically attracted to different types of women of wide variety of qualities such as body shape, appearance, intelligence, and any other characteristics that they value. The selection process between women with such desirable qualities and men with resources to provide for their young is the main determinant of the traits their children will ultimately inherit.

If possible, parents will always chose the best education that they can afford, best available resources, and if in any way possible, provide their children with the best opportunities in life that will increase their chances of survival and success in the world. Increasing the chances of their child being born healthy is something every parent tries to achieve by any means available.

PGD gives parents the opportunity to select the most desired embryo after all genetic screening has been performed in several times. No matter where such selection occurs, within a woman’s womb or in a test tube, the process involves discarding “unwanted embryos”.

Although, eugenics restricts people’s freedom of reproduction through government control, PGD is now the new form of eugenics born from the view of technological advancements. It makes it possible for the government and other entities to have power to choose which embryo to kill which is morally wrong and unethical.

 The answer to the question as to why such selections are unethical depends on the purpose and technologies used. If science and technology make it possible for genetic testing and determination of certain traits over others in offspring that could detect possible disorders, then the goals are noble and wise. However, if such determinations are made in an embryo with unwanted traits (such as hair color, eye color, height, etc) and parents decide to kill it; this is unethical. Likewise, I consider unethical the selection of the “best” embryo and discarding the others.

Those who decide to use PGD with the expectations of having a child with no risk of development of future diseases such as diabetes 2 or cardiac heart disease is thinking too highly of this process and ignoring environmental influences, and the mere fact that we do not have a full understanding of all the genes in our body especially the ones that could someday be at higher risk for developing a disease.

In the end, no matter how hard people can try, there will always be mutations in the germ line, unexpected defects, and unknown diseases that will occur.  With time, new diseases will be discovered and there can always be errors in genetic screening.

Those who tarnish or possess a threat to people’s perception of a Utopian society would not be accepted and subsequently become socially isolated. I feel as though PGD is a new form of eugenics in that it would damage our society.  Through PGD, we as a society might become too focused in creating the ‘perfect’ embryo and disregarding the others for missing a desired gene, that we will lose a sense of compassion and that sensitivity that makes us human.

Individuals with fragile X syndrome, down syndrome and other genetic disabilities make the world a better place to live in. They are living proof that life can be fulfilling although they are not the same as everyone else. Should we have killed them as embryos if we had known that they possessed such diseases? Would we have loved these children any less?

It is not wrong for a parent to want the best for their child whether it is in genetic advantages or tangible resources in the world, rather it is something very noble. However, the lengths to achieve these genetic advantages through PGD and killing embryos is not something that should be done unless screening for a known disease in family history.

*I do not own these images, they were found on various tumblr sites. Please let me know if any are yours and I will give you credit for them. Thanks so much!