Designer babies, gender, science and a ghost

 
[From Terry Mattingly at GetReligion.org ]
 

 
A long, long, time ago, during a press conference with Rep. Patricia
Schroeder of (D-Colo.), I asked a question that I thought was perfectly
logical. At the time, she was one of the most outspoken voices in the
U.S. Congress on every imaginable progressive cause, especially
abortion rights and other issues linked to the lifestyle left.
 
Someone raised the topic of gay rights and I asked a follow-up. If I
understood correctly, I said, Schroeder’s stance on the issue was
rooted in her conviction that homosexuals were born gay and that this
would, eventually, be proven by science. The congresswoman said this
was correct. So if a “gay gene” was discovered, and parents could
detect this with prenatal tests of some kind, would she oppose the
abortion of homosexual fetuses?
 
Based on the glares from Schroeder and her aide, this question was considered somewhat off the wall in the mid-1980s.
 
 However, I knew that gay ethicists, theologians and even artists were already asking that question, and they have asked it many times in the years since then. It is also one of the questions hidden between the lines of the recent Washington Post news feature by Rob Stein titled “A Boy for You, a Girl for Me: Technology Allows Choice.” The sub-headline added, “Embryo Screening Stirs Ethics Debate.” I still think there was a ghost in this story.
 
Along with the heartwarming cases of parents happy with their
pro-choice options, the story did quote a number of experts offering
alternative viewpoints, such as: