Articles
Posted on Sat 2 August 2014
Designer babies are a disaster for society, writes Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, for
Britain is to get its first NHS-funded national sperm bank to make it easier for lesbian couples and single women to have children.
This announcement raises some important questions about the future of our children and the role of men in our families and communities.
The most important thing to say is that the needs of any child must be primary. It is the upbringing, welfare and education of the child that should be the prior consideration.It is not enough to ‘want’ a child, let alone one with particular characteristics.
This bank will allow women to choose from profiles of donors, which will include educational attainment and ‘attractiveness’ criteria, raising the spectre of ‘designer babies’, born to the parents’ specifications.
What if the process of pregnancy and birth ‘interferes’ with the desired outcomes? Will such babies then be rejected?