What should Christians think about three parent babies?

Earlier this year, the first baby born with DNA from three people was widely celebrated as a breakthrough in combating mitochondrial diseases. But aside from the long term safety of the procedure, there are many ethical and moral issues that the Christian faith must speak into, says Dr Chris Wild

Earlier this month, media outlets worldwide celebrated the birth of what were widely referred to as “three-parent babies”. This ground breaking approach (technically termed pronuclear transfer), led by the Fertility Centre in Newcastle, brings hope to women who would otherwise have babies born with mitochondrial diseases that cause severe disability or death in childhood.

So how was this chain of inherited disease broken?

Faulty mitochondrial DNA in a woman’s eggs can result in disease in her children. The Newcastle team circumvented this using donated eggs. Both the mother’s and donor’s eggs were fertilised with the father’s sperm. A few hours later, the nuclei from egg and sperm in the donor’s egg were removed and replaced with those from the mother’s egg. This modified embryo was then implanted in the mother’s womb.