{"id":2268,"date":"2018-11-21T10:15:40","date_gmt":"2018-11-21T15:15:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/?p=2268"},"modified":"2019-05-22T07:18:34","modified_gmt":"2019-05-22T11:18:34","slug":"new-tests-allow-screening-of-low-iq-babies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/2018\/11\/new-tests-allow-screening-of-low-iq-babies\/","title":{"rendered":"New Tests Allow “Screening” of Low-IQ Babies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Genetic<\/a>A new company called Genomics Prediction now claims to be able to test IVF babies for low IQ. If the test shows your baby will likely have a low IQ, you can then let that baby die. We have seen how often tests for Down Syndrome have resulted in abortion, such as in Iceland<\/a>. I can only presume tets for low IQ will get similar results to\u00a0down syndrome. Genomics Prediction doesn\u2019t hide these motives. They use\u00a0\u201cscreen\u201d instead of \u201ctest\u201d as babies who aren\u2019t good enough will be \u201cscreened out.\u201d (That\u2019s a euphemism for killing the babies who likely have a low IQ.)<\/p>\n

Low IQ Tests<\/h2>\n

New Scientist reports<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The firm Genomic Prediction says it has developed genetic screening tests that can assess complex traits, such as the risk of some diseases and low intelligence, in IVF embryos. The tests haven\u2019t been used yet, but the firm began talks last month with several IVF clinics to provide them to customers.<\/p>\n

For\u00a0intelligence, Genomic Prediction says that it will only offer the option of screening out embryos deemed likely to have \u201cmental disability\u201d. However, the same approach could in future be used to identify embryos with genes that make them more likely to have a high IQ. \u201cI think people are going to demand that. If we don\u2019t do it, some other company will,\u201d says the firm\u2019s co-founder Stephen Hsu. [\u2026]\n<\/p>

The firm is mainly promoting its tests as a way of screening out embryos at high risk of certain medical conditions. But the company\u2019s polygenic test for \u201cmental disability\u201d is more controversial. It isn\u2019t accurate enough to predict IQ for each embryo, but it can indicate which ones are genetic outliers, giving prospective parents the option of avoiding embryos with a high chance of an IQ 25 points below average, says Hsu. [\u2026]\n<\/p>

Information from the same test could be used to go one step further and select whichever embryo is most likely to have a high IQ. \u201cWhat that corresponds to is way-above-average intellectual potential,\u201d says Hsu.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Fortunately, it looks like the company will only screen out embryos with below-average intelligence for now. However, several scientists in the article say soon they will screen for only high intelligence.<\/p>\n

Responding to These Tests<\/h2>\n

Fortunately, some people are speaking out. New Scientist quotes<\/a> one of them:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we consider inclusion and diversity to be a measure of societal progress, then IQ screening proposals are unethical,\u201d says Lynn Murray of Don\u2019t Screen Us Out, a group that campaigns against prenatal testing for Down\u2019s syndrome. \u201cThere must be wide consultation.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Don\u2019t Screen Us Out<\/a> is a campaign in the UK to protect babies with Down\u2019s Syndrome. They are on the front lines of preventing eugenics.<\/p>\n

We need to promote the goodness we see in each person so people won\u2019t abort children just because they are imperfect. We also need to look at restricting such genetic tests on the unborn if they have such lethal results for so many. Science will probably keep advancing but news tests should not cause more babies to die.<\/p>\n

If you like what you see, please sponsor me on Patreon<\/a>. I get very little from my online writing and want to do my fair share to help my religious community. Even $2 a month helps.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new company called Genomics Prediction now claims to be able to test IVF babies for low IQ. If the test shows your baby will likely have a low IQ, you can then let that baby die. We have seen how often tests for Down Syndrome have resulted in abortion, such as in Iceland. I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3464,"featured_media":2280,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[272,47,8,468],"tags":[92,236,922,281,278,224,227],"class_list":["post-2268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-disability","category-moral-theology","category-news-analysis","category-science","tag-abortion","tag-dna","tag-dna-testing","tag-eugenic-abortion","tag-eugenics","tag-genetics","tag-ivf"],"yoast_head":"\nNew Tests Allow "Screening" of Low-IQ Babies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A new company called Genomics Prediction now claims to be able to test IVF babies for low IQ. If the test shows your baby will likely have a low IQ, you can then let that baby die. I can only presume tets for low IQ will not save those with low IQ.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/2018\/11\/new-tests-allow-screening-of-low-iq-babies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Tests Allow "Screening" of Low-IQ Babies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A new company called Genomics Prediction now claims to be able to test IVF babies for low IQ. If the test shows your baby will likely have a low IQ, you can then let that baby die. I can only presume tets for low IQ will not save those with low IQ.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/2018\/11\/new-tests-allow-screening-of-low-iq-babies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Through Catholic Lenses\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-11-21T15:15:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-05-22T11:18:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/959\/2018\/11\/puzzle-2500333-pixabay.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"405\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fr. Matthew P. Schneider, LC\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fr. Matthew P. Schneider, LC\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/2018\/11\/new-tests-allow-screening-of-low-iq-babies\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/2018\/11\/new-tests-allow-screening-of-low-iq-babies\/\",\"name\":\"New Tests Allow \\\"Screening\\\" of Low-IQ Babies\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-11-21T15:15:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-05-22T11:18:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/#\/schema\/person\/8e063cab56f4b8512ed62dffbc50b4c7\"},\"description\":\"A new company called Genomics Prediction now claims to be able to test IVF babies for low IQ. If the test shows your baby will likely have a low IQ, you can then let that baby die. I can only presume tets for low IQ will not save those with low IQ.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/2018\/11\/new-tests-allow-screening-of-low-iq-babies\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/2018\/11\/new-tests-allow-screening-of-low-iq-babies\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/2018\/11\/new-tests-allow-screening-of-low-iq-babies\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New Tests Allow “Screening” of Low-IQ Babies\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/\",\"name\":\"Through Catholic Lenses\",\"description\":\"Viewing the world through our Catholic faith\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/#\/schema\/person\/8e063cab56f4b8512ed62dffbc50b4c7\",\"name\":\"Fr. Matthew P. Schneider, LC\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9a8164c0fe138d3a9f8742fb7ae469b?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9a8164c0fe138d3a9f8742fb7ae469b?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Fr. Matthew P. Schneider, LC\"},\"description\":\"I am the author of \\\"Through Catholic Lenses\\\" where I try to decipher the news through the teaching of our Catholic faith. I am a priest with the Legionaries of Christ currently studying grad theology and doing some behind-the-scenes work for my community.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/author\/mschneider\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New Tests Allow \"Screening\" of Low-IQ Babies","description":"A new company called Genomics Prediction now claims to be able to test IVF babies for low IQ. If the test shows your baby will likely have a low IQ, you can then let that baby die. I can only presume tets for low IQ will not save those with low IQ.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/2018\/11\/new-tests-allow-screening-of-low-iq-babies\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New Tests Allow \"Screening\" of Low-IQ Babies","og_description":"A new company called Genomics Prediction now claims to be able to test IVF babies for low IQ. If the test shows your baby will likely have a low IQ, you can then let that baby die. I can only presume tets for low IQ will not save those with low IQ.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/2018\/11\/new-tests-allow-screening-of-low-iq-babies\/","og_site_name":"Through Catholic Lenses","article_published_time":"2018-11-21T15:15:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-05-22T11:18:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":405,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/959\/2018\/11\/puzzle-2500333-pixabay.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Fr. Matthew P. Schneider, LC","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Fr. Matthew P. Schneider, LC","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/2018\/11\/new-tests-allow-screening-of-low-iq-babies\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/2018\/11\/new-tests-allow-screening-of-low-iq-babies\/","name":"New Tests Allow \"Screening\" of Low-IQ Babies","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-11-21T15:15:40+00:00","dateModified":"2019-05-22T11:18:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/#\/schema\/person\/8e063cab56f4b8512ed62dffbc50b4c7"},"description":"A new company called Genomics Prediction now claims to be able to test IVF babies for low IQ. If the test shows your baby will likely have a low IQ, you can then let that baby die. I can only presume tets for low IQ will not save those with low IQ.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/2018\/11\/new-tests-allow-screening-of-low-iq-babies\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/2018\/11\/new-tests-allow-screening-of-low-iq-babies\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/2018\/11\/new-tests-allow-screening-of-low-iq-babies\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New Tests Allow “Screening” of Low-IQ Babies"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/","name":"Through Catholic Lenses","description":"Viewing the world through our Catholic faith","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/#\/schema\/person\/8e063cab56f4b8512ed62dffbc50b4c7","name":"Fr. Matthew P. Schneider, LC","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9a8164c0fe138d3a9f8742fb7ae469b?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9a8164c0fe138d3a9f8742fb7ae469b?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Fr. Matthew P. Schneider, LC"},"description":"I am the author of \"Through Catholic Lenses\" where I try to decipher the news through the teaching of our Catholic faith. I am a priest with the Legionaries of Christ currently studying grad theology and doing some behind-the-scenes work for my community.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/author\/mschneider\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3464"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/throughcatholiclenses\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}