Designer babies and genetic screening; Gen Z and religion

Are you ready for the era of designer babies? Advances in gene sequencing have now made it possible for embryos to be screened for a host of genetic diseases and physical traits. Private companies are capitalizing on this technology, offering polygenic screening before embryos are implanted. They give each embryo a risk score for health conditions like heart disease, Crohn’s disease, schizophrenia and obesity, and they can also screen for characteristics like IQ, eye color and height. Then, prospective parents can choose. A recent Harvard University survey found a significant majority of respondents approved of using embryo screening, but what ethical questions does this new technology raise? Is this the best way to ensure healthy, happy babies? Or are we on a slippery slope to eugenics? This episode, we’ll weigh these ethical quandaries, and we want to hear from you: where do you draw the line on genetic screening?

Guests:

Anna Louie Sussman, journalist who writes on gender and reproduction

Art Caplan, bioethicist at New York University

Simone Collins, local mother who has used genetic screening for health and IQ

There’s a growing Gen Z gender divide in the pews. While young Christian men are sticking with religion, young women are leaving the church at record levels. For the first time, men appear to be more religious than women, with higher church attendance. And as we saw in the recent 2024 election, young men are also becoming more conservative, while women head the opposite way politically. These Zoomer trends come at a time when religiosity in America is finally stabilizing. After decades of declining religious affiliation, now the number of people who identify as “nones” – or religiously unaffiliated – has finally plateaued. So today, are Zoomer men starting a religious revival? Why are young women leaving organized religion? And what does this gender drift mean for our culture and politics?

Guest: Melissa Deckman, CEO of PRRI and author of The Politics of Generation Z: How the Youngest Voters Will Shape our Democracy