Creating 'Savior Siblings' Through IVF Violates Children's Fundamental Rights
Source: Josh Wood. "The Boozer Family Story Omits The Children They Sacrificed." March 27, 2026. thefederalist.com
The Gist
The author argues that when parents use IVF to create many embryos just to pick the ones that can help their sick child, they're treating babies like products to be used rather than people with their own rights. Even though the goal of helping a sick child is good, it's wrong to sacrifice other potential children to do it.
Conclusion
The practice of creating multiple embryos through IVF to select 'savior siblings' is morally wrong because it treats children as disposable commodities and violates their fundamental rights
Premises
- The Boozer family created dozens of embryos (26-34) but only selected two that were genetically compatible with their sick son
- This process necessarily involves sacrificing many viable embryos that don't meet the desired genetic criteria
- Children created through this process are being engineered primarily to serve another person's medical needs rather than being valued for themselves
- The practice represents a form of modern eugenics where children are screened and discarded based on genetic desirability
- This technology creates a dangerous precedent that could lead to even more commodification of children in the future
- Every child has fundamental rights including the right to life from conception and the right not to be created merely to serve another's purposes
Assumptions
- Embryos are human lives with moral status from the moment of conception
- Creating life with the primary purpose of serving another person's needs is inherently wrong
- The ends (healing a sick child) do not justify the means (sacrificing other potential children)
- There is a meaningful moral distinction between natural conception and deliberately creating multiple lives to select among them