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The embryo was chosen for implantation after Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) revealed a tissue match with the older sibling, who has sickle cell anaemia.Shutterstock.com

For the first time in New Zealand a family has been granted permission to carry a baby to term which has been conceived with the specific intention of saving an older sick sibling.

The embryo was chosen for implantation after Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) revealed a tissue match with the older sibling, who has sickle cell anaemia.

According to the Sunday Star Times, the mother is currently 13 weeks pregnant.  When the baby is born, stem cells from the umbilical cord will be transplanted into the sick child.  It is hoped the stem cells will cure the sibling.

Permission for such procedures must be granted by the Ethics Committee on Assisted Reproductive Technology (ECART).  None has been granted for this purpose previously.

Several embryos must be created in the laboratory (IVF) in order for PGD to take place.  On day three or five of embryo development, one or two cells are removed from each embryo and screened.  Those embryos that are not a tissue match are often discarded.  Some may be frozen.

While pro-life leaders expressed their compassion for the family, they denounced the procedure itself as immoral. 

“We realise that it’s done with the best of intentions, but at the end of the day you’re cannibalising a little human person who has no say in the matter” said Voice for Life’s National President, Bernard Moran. 

In an email to LifeSiteNews, Moran stressed that every embryo is “a someone” with “all its DNA and personality from conception.”

Ken Orr from Right to Life emphasized that the “procedure entails a massive disrespect for human life at its very beginning”.

New Guidelines for Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis with Human Leucocyte Antigen Tissue Typing were published on 18th August 2014, which make future “savior siblings” more likely.  Guidelines are produced by the Advisory Committee (ACART) whose role is to advise the Ethics Committee (ECART) on all reproductive technology procedures and research. 

Under the Guidelines, preimplantation diagnosis coupled with tissue typing can only be undertaken when the resulting child will be the brother or sister of the child to be treated.  It is not legal for fertility clinics to use the screening to select the sex of the child.

But Dame Colleen Bayer of Family Life International NZ pointed out that “saviour siblings” “are valued because they can do something for an already born child. But the embryos that don’t match – they are the bottom of the heap.  These unique individuals are perceived to have no value because apparently they have nothing to offer.”

“If New Zealand really cared about her children, she would not allow this to happen,” she said.