In one experiment, scientists in the U.K. are trying to find alternate ways to fertilize an egg other than the old-fashioned method; and in another, scientists in Sweden are trying to manipulate embryos. While in the latter the researchers claim to be seeking treatments for infertility and miscarriage, Dr. David Prentice of the Charlotte Lozier Institute explains they’re taking normal, healthy embryos and doing genetic “twiddling” on them – in scientific circles called a proof-of-principle experiment.

“Which mainly [means they] just want to show that [they] can do this and make a change or do something with this embryo,” he further explains. “Embryos are all destroyed after that. But what they’re trying to prove is that they could start, not creating embryos, but genetically engineering them maybe to make them ‘better.'”

According to Prentice, there’s no purpose in it that will benefit anyone – but he argues it does raise the question of whether individuals are moving into the realm of designing life and creating it to their own specifications.

“We had a Creator who already did that, [who] created life [and] designed it,” he tells OneNewsnow. “But what we’re seeing now are humans who want to be that creator and humans who want to be that designer, but they’re not really holding themselves to that higher standard that was already there.”

In an interview with Baptist Press, Christian bioethicist Dr. C. Ben Mitchell voices similar concerns about these experiments, saying there is “clear harm” when reproductive technologies result in the destruction of unborn human beings.

“[And] if we defy the procreative relationship by creating parentless babies, there is likewise clear harm,” says the Union University provost and professor. “The end does not justify the means when the means are immoral.”