Designer Babies

     The story within My Sister's Keeper deals directly with the controversial topic of designer babies. Anna was made to be spare parts for her sister - a whole different ethical issue that will be discussed at a later date - by choosing specific genes to make her a genetic match for Kate. Someone may ask, when is doing this ever a moral decision? This process was originally designed to combat disease. For example, if two want-to-be parents were both carriers for a fatal disease were afraid to have children because of that, this process allows them to choose the specific genes to prevent that child from having that disease. Thus, a couple that previously was unable to have children with a clear conscience now can. In this sense, I believe that most people would agree that messing with the genes is an honorable thing to do. However, people have now taken that concept and run with it.
      Instead of only controlling genes to prevent disease, people now are wanting to use that technology to choose the gender and characteristics of their child. For instance, if a woman wanted her child to be musically talented, athletic, and artistic, the technology is close to being able to do exactly that. This technology is creating designer babies or sometimes called super babies. Just because we can do this, does that mean that we should?
     While there are many sources people turn toward to seek ethical and moral advice when these dilemmas arise, I will turn my attention to that of the Bible and what it has to say on this topic. Some may say that the Bible never says anything about "designer babies", and they would be correct. However, the Bible does say something about the origin of life. In Genesis 2, God created man by breathing into his nostrils after forming him from the dust of the earth. He then made woman from a rib taken from Adam, the man he just created, to be a helper and companion to man.
      When God created humans, He intended to be the sole Creator. It was never intended for humans to try and fill the role of God by creating life. By manipulating the genes to create something that may or may not have occurred naturally is meddling in the matters of God; it is the beginning of humans trying to become like God. Does this mean that even changing the genes to avoid disease is wrong according to the Bible? Yes. Despite the honorable intentions in that process, this still involves people meddling with God's intentions in creation. The correct response to that problem, according to the Bible, would be to trust God that the child would be born without the fatal disease naturally.