Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth.

For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street.

On a recent visit to the Interesting Times podcast, Norse Dickey, the head of the IVF screening company, Orchid, told Ross Douthit that babymaking needs to change.

Not only will the genetic screening of embryos be available,

she predicted, it will become the new normal of procreation. And I quote,

the vast majority of parents in the future are not going to want to roll the dice with their

child's health. They're going to see this as taking the maximum amount of care, the maximum

amount of love. In the same way,

they plan their nursery, plan their home, plan their preschool, I think it becomes about stewardship.

It becomes about how do I make a responsible choice for my family, end quote.

Now, Siddiqui is probably correct with this prediction when children are seen as accessories to adult life.

Eugenics is the path that makes the most sense. Why wouldn't we take every step possible to

optimize the health of the child we take home, even if that involves creating and discarding

other tiny humans in the process? Why wouldn't we use the best available technologies

in order to get the baby

that is the most healthy? IVF is pitched as a therapeutic technology, of course, enabling

those who are unable to have kids to become parents. But increasingly, it's also sold by

appealing to certain lifestyle choices. Those who wish to postpone pregnancy or to hand off the task to willing

incubators can all still have the children they want when they want them.

Now, to be clear, the IVF process has always separated procreation from sex, and it is always

involved, to some degree or another, the screening and selection of embryos.

Siddiqui is simply promising more of the same, only better.

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