Yet Another Sign of the Decline and Fall of Western Civilization.

Outcry as clinic offers 'designer baby' embryo screening for 200 diseases | the Daily Mail

This one has all the key excuses and rationalizations of men who do evil for the sake of good.

"The alternative is testing at 16 weeks when they may choose an abortion or, in many cases, seeing their baby die from some of these horrendous diseases." That's right! We can prevent abortions this way! Those Christians would have to be hypocritical to be against something that prevents abortions! And we can save people from hardships of horrible diseases! And all that we need to do is destroy human life before it gets old enough for us to care about it! But of course, where does this end? If we can justify killing in the earliest stages of life to end disease, what about the end of life? Why not bring on all-out euthanasia? And why stop with old people? And why limit it to diseases? Why not justify mercy-killing of those who are living in misery not brought about by disease, but by causes such as poverty or other social hardships?

Of course, 'mercy'-killing is a misnomer, as Dr. Harold the Elder pointed out in philosophy class because, "justice is giving someone his due. Mercy is giving him more than his due. Everyone deserves life, so 'mercy'-killing is not just against mercy, it is against justice because it gives someone less than their due."

"In my opinion, it is unethical not to offer couples the chance of a disease-free child." That's right, it would be wrong not to do it, to stand in the way of all the good that can be done! And think of all the diseases we can end through embryonic stem cell research! Why, it would be criminal to oppose that! And the only cost is we have to destroy a few things that don't even look like people. But I suppose if one doesn't believe in anything one cannot see, then it would be easy to justify the destruction of embryos, since they don't look like a person.

It reminds me of the end of Minority Report, where the Bad Guy who had created the Department of Pre-Crime is trying to justify to himself the murder of the mother of one of the psychics and says to himself "think of all the good you've done, the lives that have been saved."

"When I explained, the manager said, 'So this technique means we spend £20,000 and avoid the possibility of having to spend between £1 and £2 million caring for a disabled child. It's a no-brainer.'" That's right! We can save money this way! It would be cheaper and easier on not just the parent's pocketbook, but on that of the British taxpayer, who in the end foots the bill for the socialized healthcare that pays for the diseased baby. But of course, this is justifying desctruction of human life for economic reasons, essentially putting a monetary value on human life.

"I realise some people have concerns this is all going too far but quite apart from the regulators overseeing our work and ethical guidelines, we are governed by our desire to alleviate suffering." That's right! We only want to help! Our noble goal is to make the world a better place by putting an end to suffering and disease! But of course, such has been the excuse of all evil men throughout history.

*Joe's Idea for a Science Fiction Story*
Feel free to use this as long as you credit me/pay me royalties.

In the not-too-distant future, all babies are selected in a manner similar to this and screened not just for diseases but for physical traits such as eye and hair color, beauty, and physical abilities (for instance, parents pay $35,000 for a baby that will be 7' tall and an NBA star; Considering the amount of money the kid will make, that's a pretty good ROI). There might even be government mandates for why babies have to be pre-screened to save on national healthcare costs. Or maybe insurance companies won't cover non-screened babies.

Anyways, after some nuclear war/cataclysmic asteroid impact/apocalyptic event, technology reverts and the ability to screen babies or use IVF is lost, buried under piles of rubble. It is then discovered that women have become sterile, as there is no longer a natural or evolutionary reason for a woman to be able to conceive. Perhaps all women have damaged fallopian tubes, since they are not necessary to IVF. Or perhaps the cervical mucus no longer sustains the sperm so they can live long enough to fertilize the ovum. Whatever the cause, no one is able to have any babies and the human race dies out. The end.
©2006 Joe Belland. All Rights Reserved.

If you want a happy ending, perhaps the Catholics and a few other traditional Christians survive because they have been secretly having real babies all along. But I prefer my tales of foreboding to have dark and depressing endings, like "The Boy Who Cried Too Much and Was Left Out in The Woods To Be Eaten by Wolves - You Get My Drift, Little Timmy?"