Should UK couple be allowed to choose a deaf embryo?

by Bethany Sanders (Subscribe to Bethany Sanders's posts) Mar 15th 2008 8:00AM

Categories: Health & Safety, In The News, Weird But True

A deaf couple in the UK are making headlines with their request to choose a "deaf" embryo, should they go through with IVF. The couple currently have one child who is hearing impaired. Because of maternal age, they'd likely turn to IVF to conceive another child, and it's there where the situation gets sticky.

Fertility legislation in the UK will soon make it impossible for parents to choose an embryo with a known genetic abnormality over an embryo without one. That means that should this couple produce embryos with and without deafness, they'll be forced by the government to choose a "hearing" embryo, whether they want to or not.

A segment of the deaf community see deafness not as a disability, but as a physical characteristic. The UK couple argues that in their community, a hearing child would be seen as disabled and would have trouble communicating with family and friends.

This issue is rife with complicated questions. What do you think?

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Comments (16)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Derek 3-15-2008 @ 8:54AM

ahh but the real question is, what kind of flack would hearing parents get if their child had the potential to be deaf and they wanted to choose a baby with hearing.

I'm sure they would be accused of playing God, and that they should love their baby no matter the outcome.

So I think the same should go for this couple.

dc 3-15-2008 @ 9:04AM

i think that it is deplorable. i want what is best for my child and that means i dont want them to inherit the same issues i may or may not suffer from. i think that the couple is setting the child up.
the child will grow up in the deaf community therefore the parents are responsible for making sure the child is accepted and feels included.

Mel 3-15-2008 @ 9:22AM

This is not "rife with complicated issues." Quite simply, this couple is evil and/or deranged. Either way, they are not mentally competent to care for children.

Sick.

Heather 3-15-2008 @ 9:25AM

Ok this may be a stupid question but.....How do they know if a embryo is deaf?? As far as I can tell, when they implant the embryo it is no more than a group of cells that are not yet defined as anything in particular. I have never had IVF so I don't know all the ins and outs of it but it all seems kinda silly to "determine" if a embryo is deaf.

Bethany Sanders 3-15-2008 @ 10:09AM

Heather,

In this case, the deafness is a genetic trait, so they can tell even at the embryo stage whether the child will be born hearing or not.

Note, this isn't a case of taking a hearing baby and making it hearing impaired, but instead choosing the embryo with the genetic trait over the one without it.

Thanks for commenting!

Marie 3-15-2008 @ 10:16AM

I am hearing impaired and would never wish it upon my child. It isn't because I feel it's a bad way to live life, but how could someone in good conscious "choose" a possibly deaf embryo? It is a harder road. While I don't consider myself disabled and I live a wonderful life - I wouldn't want to make that decision. If it happened by chance and genetics, then fine, but don't CHOOSE an embryo by those terms. If they're worried that by having a "normal hearing" child because they fear he/she might not be as involved in the deaf community or in their "set ways" as a hard of hearing/deaf family, that's still no reason to pick a deaf embryo. Their child, hearing or not will still be linked to the deaf community (they will undoubtedly learn sign langauge because while they're learning to talk, the parents SHOULD be teaching him/her signing - it's growing up to be bilingual) - he/she should still be loved unconditionally and whose to say they wouldn't learn to understand first hand what it's like to be deaf? Or become even more involved? What if, since they see it daily, they want to make a difference and become an audiologist? or a surgeon to research the causes and find more advances?

But to "pick" a deaf embryo isn't right. While the parents may never hear the simple sounds of running water or birds or even an obnoxious airplane overhead, doesn't mean they have the right to KNOWINGLY choose an embryo and possibly have that child grow to never hear those sounds (and should NEVER resent their child, should they have the chance to have a cochlear impant or bone anchored hearing aid). Leave it to fate, and don't play God and pick and choose how you want things to be - that's a part of life, learning to deal with situations that are beyond our control.

It not only seems that the hearing world may take even the basic sounds for granted, but those that are deaf seemingly are taking it for granted as well...by choosing a deaf embryo.

Heather 3-15-2008 @ 1:42PM

Ok Beth, to reply to your reply...I have this to say. Is what's next choosing an embryo that is "blond" a genetic trait? Just because the parents MAY pass on this gene doesn't mean they (the embryo) should have to pay the ultimate price...life. This is how the "designer babies" are going to come about. By people picking and chosing which embryo is good or "bad" by chosing the "perfect" baby. People should just be happy with what they have and learn to live with what comes to them.

Bethany Sanders 3-15-2008 @ 1:46PM

Heather,

What you said in your comment is exactly what's at the heart of this issue. Should parents be allowed to choose? I'm not coming out in support of these parents OR as a critic, because I don't consider myself in a position to do either.

The reason I pointed out that it was a genetic trait in my comment to you was to answer your question about how they knew at the embryo stage if the child would be hearing or not. I also wanted to qualify that this wasn't about taking a hearing embryo and making changes to it to "make" it deaf, but instead choosing one with the genetic trait over the without it.

ninainindia 3-15-2008 @ 10:51AM

They should not be allowed to pick anything about the child. It is wrong to do so wether it is about hair colour, eye colour, deafness or whatever.

Keri 3-15-2008 @ 11:41AM

I am NOT hearing impaired (*gag* I loathe that term) but I *am* Deaf. ;-) While I understand the couple's reasoning for choosing an embryo that may carry the deaf gene, I disagree with their statement that if they have a hearing child, they would have a difficult time communicating with the child. My son is 2 and half and hearing. His first language is American Sign Language (ASL) and it's the language he feels more comfortable using although he can speak. Because we exclusively use our native language with him, he is able to communicate with us. Had we spoken to him with our deaf voices without signing, perhaps we would have trouble understanding him when he speaks to us. Too many deaf parents worry about their hearing children being "behind" in speech and don't sign exclusively with their children. They don't need to worry about that because the kids will pick up speech from their environment (this is NOT the case in a deaf child born to a hearing family though...they need exposure to sign language in order to understand the world around them). So as long as that deaf couple signs with their hearing or deaf child exclusively, communication won't be an issue.

Holly 3-15-2008 @ 1:25PM

My understanding is that members of the Deaf World view their deafness similar to how we view cultural heritage. It is a defining characteristic that makes you part of a certain community.

To learn more about deaf culture, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaf_World.

I do not believe this is an issue that a hearing person can fully understand. Deaf individuals in deaf culture are proud of their deafness and do not wish to hear. They love the way they experience the world.

Sabrina 3-15-2008 @ 2:22PM

No, parents should not be allowed to choose, neither should doctors. Deafness is not a life or death disease that's going to kill a child. The only reason for extracting and checking DNA , IMHO *should* be to find potentially deadly diseases in embryos. And I still disagree with it. It's akin to giving every pregnant woman an amnio and forcing abortion for abnormalities. I believe all of us are here for a reason, and part of that is that we're all different. Some of us have handicaps, some of us are deaf, blind, or need help getting around. Some things we're born with and others we end up with over time. Every child is special, and if the UK or any other country starts systematically screeening EVERY embryo used in IVF for abnormalities and discarding them, they're going to end up just as bad as Nazis who tried to get rid of everyone who wasn't Arian.

Tree 3-15-2008 @ 3:19PM

It seems to me that the real issue here is whether it's right for this to be the governments decision, instead of the couples. That's the part that has me upset. Seems like a personal decision to me. Deafness can be lived with. Full, productive, long life kind of lived with. It's not like they're dealing with some painful, debilitating disease.

Derek 3-15-2008 @ 4:18PM

You want rights? in the UK? the country where there are cameras everywhere? where you can't own a gun unless your a criminal?

I'm not going to all out bash... soon the home of the brave will be joining them in abandoning freedom.
Everyone together now S-o-c-i-a-l-i-s-m!!!

SKL 3-15-2008 @ 11:56PM

I think they should let God decide, just like they would if they got pregnant the old-fashioned way. Also they should not be creating and destroying embryos.

When human children become commodities we can order custom-made, we risk a huge backward leap in tolerance. The deaf community of all people should understand the importance of tolerance for diversity. Every human has equal value until he/she destroys that value through his/her own conscious choices. In the old days (and still in some developing countries) they controlled their family makeup by killing baby girls and "monsters." Now we have the technology to do the same thing before birth. No matter what you call it, or how microscopic the procedure is, this practice is barbaric.

CLM 3-20-2008 @ 9:38AM

Ok, I'm late to this post, but the line "[t]he UK couple argues that in their community, a hearing child would be seen as disabled and would have trouble communicating with family and friends." Huh? That community is not the only community in which their child would participate. A hearing child can learn to sign and function in the hearing and non-hearing worlds. A hearing-impaired child is not going to learn how to hear. Regardless of the hearing-impaired community's view of the matter, the fact remains that the majority of humans have functional hearing and the world is geared to that. To overcome a disadvantage is admirable; to deny that a disadvantage exists is not.

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