The Austrian pro-life association “Aktion Leben” has warned of a “bursting of the ethical banks” in Europe in view of the British authorization to produce so-called “designer babies”, i.e. a baby based on techniques of pre-implant diagnosis (PID). “The production of babies for a particular ‘purpose’ means a decided step backwards for human society”, declared Martina Kronthaler, spokesperson of the association. “In this case persons are intentionally produced in the embryonal phase with a view to examining them from a genetic viewpoint and using or eliminating them on the basis of quality controls”, she explains. “Not wishing to accept children for what they are but ‘producing them’ on the basis of one’s own desires or their utility is extremely immoral and represents the acme of hubris”, adds Kronthaler. “As a society, if we begin to produce persons as means to achieve an end, we are navigating in perilous waters”, concludes the spokeswoman. “Aktion Leben” is trying to raise the awareness of Austrian public opinion on issues of bioethics and has so far collected 64,000 signatures for a referendum aimed at preventing the introduction of pre-implant diagnosis in Austria.
