A new in-vitro fertilization service offering parents the ability to select embryos based on predicted traits such as intelligence, height, and disease risk is drawing widespread alarm, particularly among Catholics who view the practice as a grave violation of human dignity.
According to LifeSiteNews, the company Nucleus IVF+ has launched a marketing campaign centered on the phrase “pick your baby,” even securing the website address pickyourbaby.com. Couples who enroll are shown detailed genetic profiles of up to 20 embryos they have conceived through IVF, including probabilities related to sex, physical appearance, projected height, IQ, and susceptibility to various diseases.
The company acknowledges that these projections are not guarantees, but the process nevertheless allows parents to select which embryonic child they deem most desirable. LifeSiteNews reports that the technology goes beyond traditional IVF screening by including traits such as risk for hypertension, diabetes, prostate cancer, and even male pattern baldness.
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In explaining the motivation behind the service, company founder Kian Sadeghi told CBS News that parents naturally want their children to succeed. “They want us to, you know, play sports and they want us to go to the best school. They want us to be well educated. They want us to thrive,” he said. “Life, I think, as a parent doesn’t just stop at ‘I want my child to be healthy,’” according to LifeSiteNews.
Advertisements for Nucleus IVF+ have appeared throughout New York City subway stations, promoting messages such as “IQ is 50% genetic,” “Height is 80% genetic,” and promising couples the ability to “have your best baby,” LifeSiteNews reported.
While IVF itself already involves the creation of multiple embryonic human lives, LifeSiteNews emphasizes that only one embryo is typically chosen for implantation, while the others are discarded. The article describes this as the deliberate killing of “excess” embryos and calls it “objectively evil and dystopian.”
What sets Nucleus IVF+ apart, according to LifeSiteNews, is the added layer of genetic selection that prioritizes one child while eliminating others based on perceived desirability. The company’s marketing language itself refers to selecting the “best baby,” a phrase the article argues masks the reality that other embryonic children are destroyed in the process.
Sadeghi has rejected claims that the practice constitutes eugenics, telling critics that it is not eugenics “by any stretch because it’s fundamentally about empowering people with information.” He added, “And yes, if you want two inches taller for your child, three inches taller, right, if you want a couple IQ-point difference, absolutely, by all means, do that,” according to LifeSiteNews.
However, LifeSiteNews argues that selecting embryos based on genetic traits while killing those deemed less desirable fits squarely within the definition of eugenics, regardless of the language used to justify it.
The article further warns that such technology could reshape how parents view their children, conditioning society to measure human worth by genetic traits rather than inherent value. Sadeghi himself acknowledged this shift, stating, “I think people are going to read this and start realizing, ‘Wow, it is now an option that I can pick. I can have a taller, smarter, healthier baby,’” according to LifeSiteNews.
According to Nucleus’ website, the company anticipates that “four out of 10 parents” in the United States will eventually use what it calls “genetic optimization” to improve their child’s chances of admission to a top university, LifeSiteNews reported. The article warns that widespread adoption of such practices could lead to a new social divide between genetically selected children and those conceived naturally.
LifeSiteNews cites the European Institute of Bioethics, which cautioned that designing children to avoid illness and imperfection reflects a transhumanist vision in which human limitations are no longer accepted.
The article concludes by warning that as genetic screening expands, eugenic abortion, already widely practiced against children with Down syndrome, could grow even more prevalent, extending to children deemed at risk for various diseases or behavioral traits.
For Catholics, the developments described raise profound moral concerns, signaling a cultural shift toward treating human life as a customizable product rather than a sacred gift, a future that increasingly resembles the dystopian warnings of a Brave New World.
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