History Main / DesignerBabies

** The show's resident {{Char Clone}}s are a product of this as well, [[spoiler:with one being a clone of the other's father, who was dissatisfied his own son because his DNA was "tainted" with that of his mother.]]

* ''Literature/TheDraka'': Starting in the late 20th century, the Draka gene-engineer their own babies for physical strength, speed and endurance, their serfs' babies for docility, all babies for intelligence. By the 25th Century humanity in the solar system has split into two distinct species, which by design are not interfertile: ''Homo drakensis'' and ''Homo servus.'' The ''drakensis'' are designed for war and survival, almost impossible to kill, do not age physically after the age of 25, and exude pheromones they can use to emotionally dominate ''servus'' and unmodified ''Homo sapiens.'' (They're also constantly horny, incredibly sexy, and universally bisexual.) A Draka female, ordinarily sterile, is still capable of bearing their own babies, if she takes a month to get her uterus up and running by biofeedback techniques, but it is considered perverse; all ''drakensis'' are gestated by implanting fertilized ova into ''servus'' host-mothers, or [[UterineReplicator mechanical "orthowombs"]].

** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'' derives much of its drama from the fact that DesignerBabies (Coordinators) exist alongside naturally-born humans (Naturals), leading to racial strife and outright warfare. A war the Coordinators have an upper hand in because while their modifications don't make them {{Super Soldier}}s ''per se'',[[note]]For the most part, Coordinators' physical abilities aren't outright ''beyond'' what's possible for a Natural. It's more that they're [[TheAce innately good at everything]], and even the most talented Naturals would need to devote themselves to intense training to match Coordinators in a single category.[[/note]] it works well enough, especially when ''all'' your soldiers have it. However, the Coordinators still grow in a mothers womb and are genetically modified shortly after conception (not before). The one true Designer Baby is [[spoiler:Kira, who was grown in a UterineReplicator and free of the influence of a mother's hormones during pregnancy, thus becoming the 'perfect' Coordinator]].

* In ''Literature/{{Genome}}'', many parents choose to "specialize" their children before they're born, if they can afford it. The protagonist mentions that, by law, every Spesh has a right to remove his or her specialization. However, in practice, this never happens. For one, many of the changes in mind and body that occur at puberty are simply irreversible. Furthermore, very Spesh loves his or her job -- they're ''programmed'' to love it. These modifications range from enhanced logical reasoning for detectives to extra joints for fighters, not to mention enhanced reflexes and strength. Also, starship pilots, detectives, and tax inspectors are incapable of love, as it clouds judgment. On the other hand, hetaeras (call girls) are conditioned to fall in love with their clients and be unable to fall out of love until their client reciprocates. There is plenty of distrust between the Speshs and the Naturals, even though everyone has some sort of gene therapy done on them as a fetus, like corrected eyesight and fixed genetic defects. Some jobs simply cannot be done by Naturals, like power specialists who are genetically modified to handle high doses of radiation (mostly by shielding it with their skin and long hair). Interestingly, at least one job that is assumed to be Spesh-only can be done by an extremely skilled Natural. This is shown in the novel where a Natural becomes a starship navigator, a job that requires one to memorize the multidimensional map of the galaxy and be able to plot a safe and fast course through FTL. He turns out to be a pretty good navigator.

* In ''Film/JurassicWorldDominion'' offered a case that actually started after conception: [[spoiler:Maisie Lockwood received from her TrulySingleParent Charlotte (who created and carried to term a clone of herself) a treatment to cleanse her DNA from a genetic disease that Charlotte discovered during gestation and would take her life when Maisie was little.]]

* Another 'utopian' example, is the city of Diaspar, the last bastion of humanity, in ''Against the Fall of Night''/''Literature/TheCityAndTheStars'', where humanity appears to have given up on sexual reproduction, in favor of an unimaginably massive database of personalities. Whenever a new person is to be born, a personality is downloaded into a created body, and assigned a couple to be its parents. When a person dies, they may choose what memories of theirs will be carried into their next incarnation, which may be ''millennia'' in the future, such is the size of the database, and those memories will become available to their new incarnation once it becomes an adult and has developed a truly unique personality through its childhood. 'Uniques', personalities seemingly generated during the creation process, do occur, but are viewed either as a wonderful accident, one of many little tricks to prevent stagnation, or as some great and possibly subversive plan by Diaspar's architects. Of course, [[spoiler:later on it turns out that there is a second remaining pocket of humanity, Lys, where humans have chosen to be born naturally, and die without the assurance of artificial reincarnation, living an Agrarian lifestyle and having over time developed empathic capabilities. Interestingly however, neither is presented as 'right', rather, as two distinct, viable versions of utopia. The part the book presents as ''wrong'' is the two cultures decision to totally isolate themselves from one another.]]

* In a number of stories by Creator/IsaacAsimov, [[SpacePeople Spacers]] try to reproduce this way, only to find the fetus only takes fully and grows when conceived the old-fashioned way.

* The Abh from ''Literature/CrestOfTheStars'' are all Designer Babies. Most embryos are created in a lab, but some are created naturally and then later taken out and adjusted in a lab. These "love children" are seen as a beneficial and generally preferred way to reproduce.

* Most denizens of the [[Literature/TheCulture Culture]] are designer babies. Except that most of the genetic modifications are made to increase lifespan, and to give them [[AuthorAppeal longer and stronger orgasms]] and the ability to naturally [[ImmuneToDrugs synthetize and use drugs with no ill effects]].

* In Creator/SMStirling's ''[[Literature/TheDraka Domination of the Draka]]'' series, the Draka, starting in the late 20th Century, gene-engineer their own babies for physical strength, speed and endurance, their serfs' babies for docility, all babies for intelligence. By the 25th Century humanity in the solar system has split into two distinct species, which by design are not interfertile: ''Homo drakensis'' and ''Homo servus.'' The ''drakensis'' are designed for war and survival, almost impossible to kill, do not age physically after the age of 25, and exude pheromones they can use to emotionally dominate ''servus'' and unmodified ''Homo sapiens.'' (They're also constantly horny, incredibly sexy, and universally bisexual.) A Draka female, ordinarily sterile, is still capable of bearing their own babies, if she takes a month to get her uterus up and running by biofeedback techniques, but it is considered perverse; all ''drakensis'' are gestated by implanting fertilized ova into ''servus'' host-mothers, or [[UterineReplicator mechanical "orthowombs"]].
* [[Literature/DrFranklinsIsland Doctor Franklin]]'s dream is to create useful animal-human hybrids. When this trope comes up he sneers and claims that starting from a scratch just won't do for what he wants.
* In ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'', the Tleilaxu are a race of humans whose [[PlanetOfHats hat]] is {{Genetic Engineering|IsTheNewNuke}} -- their stock in trade is custom-designed organics. People, animals, [[OrganicTechnology living furniture]]; you name it, they'll make it. This is held in stark contrast with the rest of Galactic society where all breeding is strictly natural by taboo. The Tleilaxu are therefore tolerated for their usefulness but are considered disgusting and degraded by most people. It gets even worse in the sequels when it's revealed [[WasOnceAMan exactly what]] the "[[UterineReplicator axolotl tanks]]" they use to grow their products are.

* In ''Literature/TheFifthSacredThing,'' by Starhawk, post-eco-apocalypse southern California is ruled by a high-tech religious dictatorship with several genetically engineered [[FantasticCasteSystem slave-castes]] -- some bred for war, some for sexual recreation.
* In Creator/RobertAHeinlein's novel ''Literature/{{Friday}}'', human society has learned to grow custom-tailored humans and other creatures; these are known as [[ArtificialHuman "Artificial Persons"]] if they are superficially human and "Living Artifacts" if they are clearly not human. Both are subject to a great deal of FantasticRacism; the eponymous protagonist is an AP and suffers from a crushing inferiority neurosis because of it.

* In Creator/SergeyLukyanenko's ''Literature/{{Genome}}'', many parents choose to "specialize" their children before they're born, if they can afford it. The children grow up normal, but at puberty their bodies and minds undergo changes that irreversibly determine their life path. Furthermore, they don't care because every Spesh loves his or her job. They're programmed to love it. These modifications range from enhanced logical reasoning for detectives to extra joints for fighters, not to mention enhanced reflexes and strength. Also, starship pilots, detectives, and tax inspectors are incapable of love, as it clouds judgment. On the other hand, hetaeras (call girls) are conditioned to fall in love with their clients and be unable to fall out of love until their client reciprocates. There is plenty of distrust between the Speshs and the Naturals, even though everyone has some sort of gene therapy done on them as a fetus, like corrected eyesight and fixed genetic defects. Some jobs simply cannot be done by Naturals, like power specialists who are genetically-modified to handle high doses of radiation (mostly by shielding it with their skin and long hair).
** Interestingly, at least one job that is assumed to be Spesh-only can be done by an extremely-skilled Natural. This is shown in the novel where a Natural becomes a starship navigator, a job that requires one to memorize the multidimensional map of the galaxy and be able to plot a safe and fast course through FTL. He turns out to be a pretty good navigator.
** The protagonist mentions that, by law, every Spesh has a right to remove his or her specialization. However, in practice, this never happens. For one, each Spesh loves his or her job. And two, many changes are simply irreversible.
* In ''Literature/GodClads'' the physical fun of sex and general lust have stopped because of a terrible condition called "wombrash" a condition that kills people if they even think of a lustful thought. Thus babies have been transitioned to being vat grown for them to not die immediately. Of course the higher ups of the settings use genetic modification for the best looks, abilities and more.
* In ''Literature/HonorHarrington'', Manpower, Inc. specializes in these. Everything from technicians to miners to jugglers and ''entertainers''. [[SuperSoldier Skrags]] in the backstory are a mix of Designer Baby and {{Transhuman}}, with the nastiest containing so many artificial improvements they were sterile and long dead. Many characters are actually somewhat 'Genie' as Honor herself. But due to the horror of the Skrags, [[NoTranshumanismAllowed anything Transhuman is looked down on]]. The new Arc is a war between Transhumanists and baselines that started as a break in philosophy.

* In the Literature/HumanxCommonwealth universe, the outlawed {{Evilutionary Biologist}}s known as the Meliorare Society used this method to produce their "test subjects", including the series' primary protagonist, Flinx.

* In ''Literature/TheIrregularAtMagicHighSchool'' With the help of this trope explains [[spoiler:the "divine" beauty of Miyuki and her opportunity to become a [[BrotherSisterIncest couple with her brother Tatsuya]], being his own sister and at the same time being able to give him healthy offspring. She really was born of the same parents as him, but since, as a consequence of genetic modifications, her genes have been so altered that they are different from Tatsuya genes enough that the incest between them does not cause problems to their children.]]. To a lesser extent, this also applies to the youth of the other 10 leading clans, since for generations they have been subjected to various genetic modifications, ranging from the most banal ones to the illegal and immoral ones, as in the case of the Kudou clan.

* Nicolae Carpathia, TheAntichrist of the ''Literature/LeftBehind'' series, was a designer baby of a project funded by Jonathan Stonagal, with his genetic makeup being [[HomosexualReproduction the hybrid sperm of two intelligent men (both of whom were gay)]] impregnated into a willing host, Marilena Carpathia. Of course, Jesus in ''Glorious Appearing'' reveals that it is God who gave Nicolae the gifts of beauty, wisdom, intelligence, and personality, dismissing the idea that it all came from science.
* In another of Lukyanenko's series called ''Literature/LineOfDelirium'', the protagonist Kay Dutch turns out to be a genetically-engineered "super". His very existence is in danger if this knowledge becomes public, as [[NoTranshumanismAllowed genetic engineering is against the Imperial law]]. He is stronger, faster, and smarter than most humans with an affinity for languages (even alien languages). He mostly uses his abilities for mercenary work. His "test tube sister" Lyka Seiker's abilities are more focused on mental calculations, allowing her to rapidly become the leader of an interstellar crime syndicate.
* Francine in Creator/{{Justina Robson}}'s ''Literature/LivingNextDoorToTheGodOfLove''. In the novel's near(ish)-future setting, this seems to be a fairly unremarkable choice for moderately affluent parents, and the designer children are known as "Genies". Francine's mother chose various traits for her, including high intelligence, athletic physique and amber-blonde hair. However, Francine clearly doesn't think she's anything special (perhaps by Genie standards, she isn't) and has something of an inferiority complex.
* In ''Literature/LucifersStar'' by Creator/CTPhipps, this is the hat of the Archduchy of Crius where they have genetically engineered their society to be a FeudalFuture society with superhumans on top and specialized humans in various [[FantasticCasteSystem "castes".]] Its complicated by the fact they rule regular humans and the various castes reproduce with each other or "normal" humans.
* Parodied in ''Literature/{{Mallworld}}'', where human babies are produced to order by birth factories... not because it's necessary or mandated by the state, but because designer babies are ''trendy''.