In the past, the subject of editing human embryos seemed a scientific fiction, but in the recent past as well as in the contemporary world, it is gaining prominence. Editing human embryos means that specialists can now introduce specially selected traits in vitro. This scientific practice was at first intended to correct defects such as sick-cell anemia and cystic fibrosis. However, the practice has evolved to the correction and enhancement of benign factors such as sex orientation, height, among other factors. In regard to these developments, one school of thought argues against the practice citing that it is unethical and immoral to alter the ‘natural’ states of embryos while the other side argues that parents should have the choice of deciding the traits they would want their children to have. The concept of moral relativism posits that there is nothing absolute right or wrong, rather, it depends on the point or subject of reference (Harman, 2012). In this case, those against the edit of human embryos would be right on the basis of interfering with the normal development of the embryos. On the other hand, those for the practice, would be right by saying that parents should have the freedom of choosing the qualities their children should have, and in any case, every parent desires their children to adopt positive traits. In this essay, I argue that just the same way parents have a choice of the environment to bring up their children, they ought to be given the choice to decide the traits their children should possess.
In 1994, the Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs came up with a statement to support the use of genetic selection as a method of preventing and curing some diseases but prohibited the use of the technique to enhance some benign traits. However, in 1996, Monique, and her husband, Scott Collins visited doctors at the Genetics & IVF Institute in Fairfax, Virginia, for in vitro fertilization (Ly, 2012). The family wanted to have a baby girl because their first two children were boys. This case gained so much prominence and received a lot of criticism from ethics bodies such as the Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs.
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Critics of embryo editing such as Callaway (2017) argue mainly from a moral perspective. First, embryo editing is perceived as a practice that goes against nature. That implies that embryos need to be left to develop normally without any alterations. The second concern is that embryo editing if left unabated means that only wealthy people will afford to change the traits of their children. The consequence of this is a situation where only rich people will have desirable qualities. Poor people will get poorer because the wealthy will take many of the opportunities.
On the contrary, those for embryo editing argue that it is not prudent for parents to notice defects in embryos and just wait for children to be born with undesirable conditions when correction can be done. Some conditions such as sickle-cell anemia can subject children to pain and suffering and many of them ultimately die before adulthood. On the issue of benign traits, Ly (2012) argues that characteristics such as height or athletic attributes are desirable. Besides, most of these benign characteristics are not harmful as parents always want the best for their children.
Conclusively, it can be argued that those against embryo editing have been used to the ‘norm’ and are skeptical about the future. Their moral concerns stem from being used to how things have always been done in the past. However, technology and research has brought new positive possibilities. Conventionally, parents have a choice of the environment their children should grow in. For example, parents can take their children to music schools, football training academies, and so on. These choices do not receive any criticism. Therefore, there should be no reason for parents to be criticized for choosing the traits their children ought to possess while still in embryo stage.
References
Callaway, E. (2017). Doubts raised about CRISPR gene-editing study in human embryos. Nature News .
Harman, G. (2012). Moral relativism explained. Problems of Goodness. New Essays in Metaethics .
Ly, S. (2012). Ethics of Designer Babies. Embryo Project Encyclopedia .
