Providing more opportunities for a healthier life for children is always a good thing, right?

The U.K. Human Genetics Commission has approved pre-pregnancy tests for genetic conditions, finding there are “no specific social, ethical or legal principles” against it.

But what are the advantages of pre-pregnancy testing for genetic conditions?

Well, conditions that might be passed on to future generations, such as cystic fibrosis and sickle cell disease, can be caught and decisions for would-be parents can be made as to whether to still conceive in the classic fashion, or perhaps adopt.

But, you the reader asks, that’s the U.K., not the U.S., why should I care?

Because, dear reader, this testing provides for an intriguing quandary: Can information gleaned from such testing be a means of discrimination?

Imagine your significant other was tested and found to have a likelihood of passing on a negative genetic trait — no not red hair — and your one true goal in life was to raise itty-bitty versions of yourself?

With this information, what if you end the relationship, crushing your significant other’s one goal in life of being with you till the bitter end?

Decisions to test for genetic problems are voluntary, so, you ask, why should I be concerned with what someone else decides to do with their life?

Because pregnancy is a two-person undertaking. If one partner wants testing and the other doesn’t, there can be a big problem.

The Generation Xers and Generation Nexters — or whatever label you like — are fueled by using the resources available to them; if you have a new technological advancement that might make life “better,” you bet they will know about it and put it to use.

Knowledge can be a dangerous thing, and if it can generally be found out that a person is in the non-paragon category of genetic contribution, then their life can become a struggle for happiness more hindered than that elusive pursuit of happiness already is.

Ask yourself, would you leave your significant other if you knew they could not provide healthy children?

People already get divorces for infertility, what if before you are about to pop the big question, you get tested and then end it because of the findings.

So ask yourself, do you think pre-pregnancy genetic testing should be something available to any and all people?

There is no “right” answer, but know that we as a people have found ways to discriminate for nearly every imaginable trait that humans have little to no control over, so how likely is it that genetics could be the next social stigma keeping mankind from living in peace and equality?