November 19, 2025
(Washington DC): A new poll released today by Patrick Brown of the Ethics and Public Policy (EPPC) finds that four in five voters have deep concerns about the ethical implications of embryo screening technology.
While the technology is still unproven, its backers promise an era of “responsible” parenthood, when parents will create and select embryos according to their preferences.
This would radically change the nature of parenthood, turning would-be parents from recipients of the gift of a new child to consumers looking for a product made to order.
The EPPC poll was done in conjunction with YouGov and found that:
- Four in five voters have at least some concerns about the future of embryo screening.
- Few Americans want Silicon Valley to “hack” reproduction.
- Commonsense regulations have potential support across demographic groups.
“The politics around fertility and family can get complicated, but these findings are incredibly straightforward,” said Patrick T. Brown, fellow in EPPC’s Life and Family Initiative. “Americans aren’t interested in letting Big Tech hack reproduction. There are real concerns about how embryonic screening could be used to usher in an era of eugenics, and real appetite for commonsense reforms that protect both the dignity of human life and what it means to treat parenthood as a gift, rather than a product.”
The poll, whose results were sent to offices on Capitol Hill, also examined views on embryonic screening by respondent characteristics, including age, sex, and 2024 presidential vote. It broke down concerns around the technology into a number of different categories and found the potential for bipartisan support of commonsense regulation of such technologies.
Read about the poll and its findings here.
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Media Inquiries:
Hunter Estes
Director of Communications
Ethics and Public Policy Center
[email protected]
