Strollerderby

I think you're over-stating what could be accomplished with this, and the fear factor involved.  The lab isn't producing 'designer babies', at least not as I understand the term, because they don't have any way of *changing* an embryo to have blue eyes or blond hair.  All they can do is screen for things within the range of what the parents' genetics can produce anyway (and that's a best-case scenario because a lot of the more interesting traits like intelligence and athletic ability aren't controlled by single genes anyway and aren't completely understood).  If a couple is capable of producing both brown-eyed and blue-eyed children, they might be able to pick out a blue-eyed one for them, but a shrimpy couple isn't going to wind up with a pro basketball player and a fishbelly-pale couple isn't going to get a kid with a perma-tan, since those genes aren't there in the first place.

If they could ensure my child didn't develop Type I diabetes, like I have, then I would pay the extra cost, no matter what it was!

And they don't guarantee absolute success either.  My RE told me that he could send out our sperm to be washed by this clinic and then he would send up the ones likely to produce girls.  I said no because that's just too much.  I just wanted a healthy baby.

I know my clinic offers PGD, but only for health reasons.

"Couples with infertility related to recurrent miscarriage or unsuccessful IVF cycles and couples who are at risk for passing on inherited genetic disease to their offspring."

By screening embryos prior to transfer they hopefully can save more families from horrific pain and grief.

If they could assure that our second child didn't have the (unknown) genetic marker for autism, I would pay any price.  Even if all this clinic is doing is allowing parents to select gender and cosmetic appearance-related traits, I hardly see how that makes them "without souls."