Two Mommies?

All across the Internet articles are appearing with the titles are “Two Mommies” or “Three Parents.” Of course these emotionally charged titles are not quite telling the whole story. Human testing has been requested on a procedure that is successful in eradicating some genetic diseases in mice, rats and larger animals.

I would normally link to the original story, but these accounts are so full of highly charged Secular Humanist bias that it is difficult to read the account objectively.

When a woman’s egg is fertilized, there is DNA in the nucleus which is a combination of the DNA of the mother and father. DNA outside of the nucleus, known as mitochondrial DNA is only the mother’s DNA. The new baby comes from the DNA in the nucleus. Mitochondrial DNA controls how the cell works. When this Mitochondrial DNA is defective, genetic deficits are transmitted to the child.

A new technique has proved effective in mice, rats and primates in eradicating some genetic defects. It assumes that the Doctor knows which genetic diseases are contained entirely in the Mitochondrial DNA. It also assumes this is a moral procedure.

A fertilized human egg from a woman with diseased mitochondrial DNA has the fertilized nucleus removed. An unfertilized human egg from a woman with nondiseased Mitochondrial DNA has the nucleus removed and discarded. The fertilized human nucleus is then implanted in the nondiseased egg and reimplanted in the original woman with diseased Mitochondrial DNA. A normal healthy child is born. Without this procedure, the child is likely to have a genetic defect, such as Downs Syndrome.

Is it ethical? Is it moral? Is it adultery?