This is not another post about abortion though it is related in a way. It was inspired by the opening sections of chapter 17, The Virtual Child in Lee M. Silver’s 1997 book, Remaking Eden: How Genetic engineering and Cloning Will Transform the American Family. This scenario is based on the one introduced at the beginning of the chapter and from it I have created a possible future conversation between father and daughter. At the time of this writing I have not yet read the rest of the chapter but glancing at some of the section headings I can see that I have already considered some of the issues that this technology will present.

Daughter – Dad, can I talk to you a minute?

Father – Sure, Honey. What’s on your mind?

Daughter – Can you tell me again how I came to be? I know you and mom told me when I was 14 but that was a couple of years ago and I think I didn’t really appreciate or understand exactly the significance of what you said.

Father – OK. Well, as you know, you were specially selected. Your mother’s family has a high risk of breast cancer. Your aunt had it; your grandmother had it; and your mother still goes for her regular mammograms. We knew we wanted a daughter but we also knew that our daughter would also be at a high risk of developing breast cancer. Your mother’s doctor told her about preimplantation genetic diagnosis. We consulted a specialist and decided that was the course we would follow to ensure having a healthy girl who had only the normal chance of developing breast cancer, or even a lower chance instead of a great chance. But of course with today’s technology we could go further than that. So we were able to look at dozens of genetic profiles and even get character traits and a rough idea of how you would look before we made the decision together that you were the one we wanted. So, as I said, you were a specially selected girl.

Daughter – Yes, that part I remember you telling me. But how exactly did you get all those profiles?

Father – Your mother went to a clinic where she was given a hormone treatment to stimulate ovulation. She did this a few times over a time until around 92 eggs had been recovered. Then they were taken out of storage and set in a Petri dish with some of my sperm. Some of all those eggs were fertilized soon and some were not but the doctor was able to assist with the process until all the eggs became fertilized. They were then incubated and left for a two and a half days when they had about six to ten cells. One or two cells were extracted from each embryo and the cells were dissolved in a solution, and then subjected to PCR, which if I recall is poly… polymerase chain reaction. This causes the DNA in each cell to keep reproducing itself at an exponential rate and by doing so selectively, certain parts of the genomes can be reproduced quickly in numbers large enough to discover specific information about the genes of each embryo. Of course we were looking for girl embryos that were not predisposed to breast cancer but also thousands of other diseases. When all the information had been recorded your mother and I could view the profile of each embryo on a computer. We could see which ones had the potential to develop life-threatening or disabling diseases, which ones only had carrier genes of those diseases, and which ones were disease-free. We could also see how your physical build would be, how your face and hair and eye colour would be, what your skills and talents would be and other things.

Daughter – So, what about those other embryos. What happened to them?

Father – Well, as for the ones with the diseases we left them with the lab. They said they would be useful for further research on genetic and hereditary diseases.

Daughter – And the healthy ones?

Father – We left those frozen at the clinic.

Daughter – Why? What will become of them?

Father – Well, first, we left them there in case we decided later to have another child. Some of the embryos were boys too. But as I said we wanted a girl.

Daughter – So I have brothers and sisters?

Father – Not exactly. They are just embryos in the very early stage of development, only a small bunch of cells. But one option also is if a couple or individual can’t conceive their own child for some reason but the woman still wants to give birth to a healthy baby they can choose one of our eggs. In a way, it’s a kind of adoption.

Daughter – You mean you are selling off the embryos?

Father – No, no. Not like that. The embryo will be donated by us. Only the clinic will charge a service fee but the embryos themselves are donated.

Daughter – So it’s possible there might be my sisters and brothers already born and living somewhere in the city?

Father – Well, not yet. None have been requested. Anyone choosing this course will have thousands of embryos to consider based on the same virtual child profiles that we looked at when choosing you. If someone chooses one of our embryos the clinic will notify us first and we can look over the couple’s or person’s profile to be sure we are comfortable with and agree with one of our embryos being raised by those people or that person. No embryos of ours will be donated without our consent.

Daughter – And what if no one chooses them?

Father – Well, we have a contract to store the eggs for up to twenty years. After that the contract comes up for renewal and we can decided to either keep them frozen, turn possession over to the lab, or have them destroyed.

Daughter – So, you mean my brothers and sisters could all be destroyed?

Father – They are not really your brothers and sisters. They are just masses of cells. They haven’t even begun to differentiate into anything yet. They only have the potential to become a developing foetus.

Daughter – What if I wanted to have a brother?

Father – Well, your mother would have the final word on that. And I think she is past the idea of delivering a baby.

Daughter – What if I wanted to have it?

Father – Well, now wait a minute. Don’t be silly…

Daughter – I could be a person who wanted to have a baby through IVF. I could have it.

Father – Do you realize what you are saying? You would be the birth mother of your brother! And I think you are too young to be thinking about this now.

Daughter – Sixteen is not too young to start thinking about it. And if I think that I could have a younger brother or even a sister… I mean, all those embryos are not being given a chance for life after they were forced to come into being. You, mom and the doctor made those embryos in a Petri dish, you forced them into existence and then just had their lives suspended in liquid nitrogen, waiting to either be thawed for IVF or just destroyed. It’s heartbreaking enough to think that all those babies that could have been born, even with a disease, and that could have still enjoyed life were selected against just because of their genetic make-up and left for laboratory experiments.

Father – But nature acts selectively anyway. Most eggs produced by women never mature for ovulation, and among those that do most never get fertilized and just pass out of the body through menstruation. Even some fertilized eggs don’t implant and just pass out of the body too. And of the eggs that do implant many of them are aborted naturally by the body through miscarriage.

Daughter – But that’s naturally. You guys are deciding the fate of these babies.

Father – Honey, they are not babies. They only have the potential to become babies. There’s a big difference.

Daughter – I still want to try to have my own brother.

Father – And how will you select one? What will you do if the embryo doesn’t implant? Will you have the embryo copied to ensure you get the one you want?

Daughter – What? You mean clone the embryo?

Father – That’s what we did.

Daughter – I… You mean there are frozen embryos that are my clones?

Father – Your identical twins, actually. The same process used by nature to produce identical twins was used for the embryo that produced you.

Daughter – I don’t understand. Why? Why would you…?

Father – The answer is quite simple. As I said already, often eggs are fertilized and entered into the uterus but don’t implant and are passed out of the body. Since we were sure we wanted you we had the lab make a dozen embryos containing your exact genetic make-up.

Daughter – And what became of those… those embryos?

Father – Of course we kept them, but not with permission to donate to other prospective parents.

Daughter – Why? I…

Father – In case anything terrible should have happened to you.

Daughter – What?! You mean, like, if I died?

Father – Truthfully, yes. We really wanted you.

Daughter – But that’s just horrible. I mean, so, if I had died, say at the age of six months, you would have just had another me put in mom and another me would have been born to take my place?

Father – That’s not…

Daughter – I can’t believe that! So, what, then you would just treat that child the way you had treated me? Give her my clothes and things? Pretend she was me? Act like I had never existed and you just had a second chance to raise the same daughter? I can’t believe you and mom would even think like that. Oh, this is making me feel just sick!

Father – Honey, please try to understand. Of course if we had lost you it would have been an unbearable tragedy. How could we think a second child was exactly you?

Daughter – Please! Can’t you see how this sounds to me? I have numerous brothers and sisters, and me-s – my identical twins – all frozen and being denied the life that they were coaxed into beginning. I am not so sure I am happy that I was the first one born. I was the first one, right? Right?

Father – You were the first one born, yes. But you were not the first one introduced. Four others were introduced before you but failed to implant. Can you understand why we had extra embryos made? We wanted to be sure we had you.

Daughter – I… don’t know… This is all so unbelievable, so surreal. No, my mind is made up. I am going to have that child.

Father – And how do you plan to raise it?

Daughter – I could do it myself if you two weren’t willing to raise your own son.

Father – Firstly, we do have a say in whether we want another child. We didn’t choose to have one exactly because of the finances involved and having and raising a child. Even if you had the baby we’d still be faced with some responsibility in caring for it. Secondly, you have to think about your life. It’s a big job to care for a baby. You’d be throwing away your future. It would mean a big change in your life and all your dreams.

Daughter – But I’d be giving life to a boy whose life you denied.

Father – No lives were ever denied. We chose to give life to one person and that was you.

Daughter – Well, I want to give life to one person too. I wish I could give life to all of them, even my twins. But for now I will have to start with one.

Father – Honey, you need to calm down. You need to think about this. You’ll see it’s just a rash idea you have based on your emotions at the moment.

Daughter – That’s such a typical thing for a parent to say. How patronizing!

Father – Then think it through anyway and let’s talk about it with your mother when she gets home. You’ll see. You’ll change your mind.

Daughter – I won’t change my mind. I am going to give my brother a life and maybe my sister later and maybe even my twin.

Father – You are not concerned that you will be the birth mother and social mother of your own brother? You’re not concerned about how he’d feel someday?

Daughter – Like you were concerned about how I’d feel one day?

Father – There’s one more thing. How are you going to choose which embryo, should you decide this is what you really want?

Daughter – Huh?

Father – I mean are you going to look through the profiles and choose which one you like best for a brother?

Daughter – Maybe I’ll just randomly pick one then.

Father – Then how about the others, the ones you don’t pick. You want a brother, so how about the girls? When you pick an embryo for IVF then by your own words you are also discriminating against all the others. Even by arbitrary selection you are denying all the others the right to life, just as you are accusing your mother and me of doing.

Daughter – What…?

Father – Think about it. There’s more to this than what you can understand with your emotions running high right now.

Daughter – You know this is some real mess you have left all those embryos in. You and mom should have never meddled with nature in the first place.