Ethics

Reproductive science has over the years undergone a series of remarkable developments. While many of these developments are very welcome, some have raised serious debates regarding their ethical place in society. Today science has brought promises of designer children. This is to say that parents will now be in a position, for whatever reason, to choose the kind of traits they want for their children. There are those who argue that this technology will make it possible for designer children to help out their siblings and other children with particular health conditions. While this sounds like a very noble idea, there are several questions that arise from it. This study is concerned with the moral implications of designer children in as far as their production is concerned. It will specifically deal with the issue of producing designer children for the sake of helping address particular illnesses in other children.

Designer Children-Savior Siblings
One of the major arguments advanced by reproductive health professionals is that the application of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) in the creation of designer children is beneficial in that these designer babies are in every respect savior siblings. In other words, their tissues can be used in order to save the lives of children living with conditions such as leukemia, thalassaemia, as well as rare anemia (Boyle and Savulescu 1245). According to these experts, treatment of such conditions is only possible through a donation of bone marrow or stem cell from an individual whose tissues match those of the infected person. They further argue that PGD can easily make it possible for the production of a baby with traits matching those of the existing one, thereby saving their lives.

However, serious ethical questions arise from this argument. First, children who are created for such a reason are actually reduced to mere commodities. In other words, the reason for creating or rather producing that designer child is to save the existing one, meaning that the child created is not brought forth for their own sake, but for the sake of another child. This could have serious ramifications for the designer child, because it would be totally impossible to conceal from the child the reason for its creation. This could permanently damage the child psychologically because of the feeling of being unwanted (Liao 117). It is ethically wrong to create a child whose entire life will be shrouded with the knowledge that they were produced for the sake of another child. The main question in this case is as soon as the reason for its creation is over, what next for the designer child.

At the same time, in order for the designer child to fulfill the purpose for which it was created, it would have to be subjected to unnecessary suffering during the process of tissue harvesting. The child is in this case not able to choose whether to accept the tissue harvesting or not. It can be extremely traumatizing and in every sense morally intolerable.

Another ethical issue that arises with this technology is that it brings about a damaging effect on genetic diversity of humanity. This could expose humanity to risks that may be unforeseen at the moment. The proponents of producing children to suit particular needs seem not to realize this fact. At the same time, assuming that this technology were accepted, it would expose humanity into a further problem of inequality, mainly because only those who are rich enough would afford such an expensive technology. This would simply further social inequalities (Sheldon and Wilkinson 534). According to the ethical principle of justice, all should be treated equally, and creating designer children tends to create two camps of humanity the genetically rich, and the genetically poor that is, those with the advantage of the designer genome and those without. This would also be ethically intolerable, and it would be a serious error for humanity to move towards that direction knowingly.

Conclusion
While an appreciation is made of the nobility of the arguments of the proponents of the use of PGD in the production of designer children, this study has raised serious ethical problem that come with this progress. To reduce children to mere commodities not only goes against morality, but also against God, who is the supreme creator of all that is. It is important that every human being be appreciated and brought forth for their sake, rather than for the sake of others. While it is important to save the lives of others, this decision should be left to the individuals to decide whether or not to donate tissue. In the case of designer children, this decision is left to the parents, thereby reducing the children to commodities that can be subjected to parental manipulation at will. It is therefore morally unacceptable to produce children for the sake of others.