Hastings Center News
Watch the Webinar–Testing Embryos: How Far Should We Go?
Embryo testing is advancing fast—but how far is too far? How and where do we draw the line between preventing disease and selecting for “desirable” traits? What are the ethical implications for parents, children, clinicians, and society at large? These were the questions discussed in a webinar on December 3, which kicked off our new series, “Frontiers in the Ethics of Human Reproduction.”
The webinar, moderated by Vardit Ravitsky, began with Nat De Luca, the parent of two “darling designer babies,” as he calls them, describing why he and his husband chose to have extensive genetic testing on the embryos they created and acknowledging that the price was beyond the means of most prospective parents.
Avner Hershlag, a fertility doctor, talked about the benefits of testing for genetic markers of serious illnesses such as cancer, but he raised concerns about companies that claim to screen for traits such as IQ—concerns about validity and slope to eugenics.
Louise Perkins King, a physician and lawyer who is a national leader in reproductive bioethics, echoed warnings about eugenics. She advised people not to be “too rigid in what we start to select for” lest they lose sight of “the magic of creating some incredible people.”
