The Future of Baby Making

Source: DGLimages/Shutterstock

Special ordering babies certainly sounds like science fiction. And for the near future, it probably is. However, the scientific community is beginning to grapple with the eventual ethical challenges of creating “designer babies.” This means much more than choosing between a male or female embryo to implant – a decision made by couples receiving infertility treatments every day. It means editing the genetic code of a fetus to increase the odds of certain traits, such as superior athletic ability or genius-level intelligence. As a psychologist, I find the implications of these decisions fascinating and concerning.

It would be easy to disregard this issue as a challenge for future humans – those born hundreds if not thousands of years from now. Yet truth is often stranger than fiction, and many scientists expect that humanity will be grappling with the ethics of these technologies much sooner than you may anticipate – perhaps in our lifetime. And while our minds are filled now with the challenges of climate change and school shootings, issues heralded by advancing technology are no less pressing; they just are more difficult to imagine. Nonetheless, these discussions are critical to the evolution of humanity.

This conversation is far more complex than can explored here. But researchers are calling for greater awareness within both the public and professional spheres. Currently, the focus of gene editing technology is curing disease. Of note is that technology will eventually exist to literally change human genetic code. This means that humanity will no longer be bound by the speed and confines of evolution; we will be capable of fashioning what it means to be human. Procreating will take on entirely new responsibilities in that parents may be granted the freedom to avoid, enhance, or modify traits in their offspring, potentially influencing not only their own children, but their grandchildren, and future generations.

Imagine!

Ultimately, each country will make decisions about what genetic modifications are appropriate and desirable. Playing this inevitability forward, this means that those countries with less stringent ethical codes will likely offer advanced genetic engineering technology via medical tourism. Thus, wealthier parents could have access to genetically modifying their embryos, even if they live in a country that doesn’t ethically approve of genetic enhancement. As one example, the Genetic Literacy Project is a nonprofit organization that provides a “Gene Editing Regulation Tracker” – an updated list of global gene editing policy per country. Obviously, the ethical implications of exclusively high-income people being able to upgrade their fetuses is mind-blowing. Also stunning is the psychological impact on a child genetically enhanced to excel in specific ways according to their parent’s expectations. (Imagine your joy is teaching Spanish for a living, but your parents paid to modify your genetic code for athletic prowess.) A 2016 survey of conducted by the Pew Research Center found that Americans are more worried than enthusiastic about these potentialities.

As fantastical as this discussion may seem, it’s not without precedent. Just as surgery was first developed to cure medical ills, it is now utilized voluntarily for appearance enhancement. Progressive technologies inevitably engage a “slippery slope,” where medical necessity transforms into consumer choice (Evans 2021). Some futurists, referred to as transhumanists, argue that this transition of our genetic code is essential in that our very apparent human fallibility could ultimately contribute to our destruction as a species. From this perspective, some suggest humanity’s survival literally depends on genetic enhancement. Certainly, gene editing will be required if humans intend to inhabit Mars, as our current constitutions cannot tolerate extended radiation exposure and lack of gravity in space environments.

We live in exciting times, and humanity is changing fast. In fact, so much is happening in our daily lives that it’s difficult to find the energy or time to consider the future. Yet, we must. As the bioethicist Francoise Baylis stated, “the human genome belongs to us all.” It’s time we join this discussion to determine the future of humanity.