Throughout history, many scientists have attempted to change the way babies turn out to be and they might finally have away. The modification of embryos is when the genetic code is manipulated and changed to the desired characteristics. For many years people have been living without the need of modifying unborn babies, why start at this point in time? Giving the people the right to modify their unborn children will divide society in many uncommon ways.  The modification of babies could also lead to many different problems for example the injuries or side effects the fetus will have when it is either in fertilization or born. Another problem that could occur is the dividing among people that were natural-born and modified people. In addition to this, there will also be problems that do not involve the failure of the procedure such as people who will think they can make a perfect society. Humans seem to think that if it is designed by them that it will be better and that concludes that in the modifying of embryos that is what they will be thinking. People will try to eliminate the natural-born to have only modified people so that the earth could finally have a “perfect” people. When deciding to get this procedure of modifying their fetus, parents are usually thinking of the good parts of the operation but rarely take into depth the severity of the side effects or injury the fetus might result in. Disrupting the genetic code of an embryo is a very scientific process. It happens by introducing the chosen genetic material to the embryo or sperm/egg cells of the parents. There are many side effects that can occur because of genetic engineering, especially with embryos. In many cases, embryos have not even made it to the second stage of development. A chance of human life is not something to play with, it should be something that happens just because of its nature.

When two parents decide they want to modify their child they usually do not take into consideration the baby’s rights because, in the event that they did, they would not be going through with the procedure. Even though people usually do not think much of the baby’s rights, there are others to whom they matter much. In 2018, the Supreme Court stated that a fetus’ right was the right to be born, and in many of these cases the fetus does not make it or it ends up with many side effects (Marsh,1997). Let’s say the baby does make it with side effects and all, it will probably feel cheated from life, a better life, that it could have had if its parents did not decide to try and modify it.

Throughout history, you can see the separation among humans. It is not necessarily a bad thing. It is good that there is diversity in the world but there should also have a sense of unity. In the event that the government was to let anyone that has the money, modify embryos, then there would be a division of society pertaining to rich and poor. That would be the problem today but then a couple of years down the road there will be the separation of natural-born humans and genetically modified humans. 

A couple of decades ago there was a man by the name of Adolf Hitler. Hitler thought that if he eliminated the people who did not have a certain eye color or hair color or any of the characteristics that he liked that they should be eliminated. Hitler wanted to build a so-called “perfect” society so he collected many of the people that did not fit the description of “perfect” and killed them. In many ways, you could see how genetically modifying embryos could lead to something that happened 80 years ago. Eventually, someone will think that the only way to live in a utopia will by having the perfect race and they will get all the genetically modified people and create a big separation in society.

To sum up, everything that has been stated so far, allowing parents to genetically modify embryos should not be allowed. In the event that parents were allowed to genetically modify their embryos, there are many problems that could come out of that. Messing with embryos could potentially lead to the death of the fetus in the future. A failure in the procedure could be the reason for the many deformations the child could have. An additional issue that could be caused by allowing parents to modify their embryo is that someone will want to build the “perfect” race which could lead to many different issues in it of itself. Although people can have their difference in opinion over this topic it is important to be understanding of others.

Citations 

Columbia Law Review. “Would You like Blue Eyes with That? A Fundamental Right to Genetic Modification of Embryos.” Columbia Law Review, 29 Apr. 2017, columbialawreview.org/content/would-you-like-blue-eyes-with-that-a-fundamental-right-to-genetic-modification-of-embryos/. 

Ledford, Heidi. “CRISPR Gene Editing in Human Embryos Wreaks Chromosomal Mayhem.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 25 June 2020, nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01906-4. 

“Roe v. Wade (1973).” Legal Information Institute, Legal Information Institute, law.cornell.edu/wex/roe_v_wade_(1973).