Today's Technology: Sex Selection

Today's Technology: Sex Selection

Should the process of having a child include a trip to a specific doctor so the parents may choose whether they want a boy or girl? This controversial topic is discussed in the article "Brave New Babies" written by Claudia Kalb. With the technological advances in today's society, parents are now able to choose the sex of their unborn child through a process called preimplantation genetic diagnosis or PGD (Kalb 45). Allowing a couple to choose their unborn child's sex is unethical and ruins the surprise of what gender the child is.

"Brave New Babies" discusses the new technology available to doctors allowing parents the choice of their unborn child's gender. Sex selection is being used around the world and for various reasons depending on the location. It could be used either because one gender is more prone to a life threatening disease than the other, or also because specific countries prefer a boy over a girl. Now that we can choose the gender of our child using advanced technology, what will be next? In the near future we could possibly have the ability to choose the height of our fully grown child, their hair color, or even how intelligent they will be (Kalb 46).

The process of sex selection can be explained in a few tedious steps. The mother and father give the doctor their eggs and sperm (Kalb 45). The eggs and sperm are then mixed in a lab dish, and a considerable number of healthy embryos are produced (45). The embryos are then tested for gender, and the embryos of the chosen gender are placed into the mother's womb (46). If all goes well one or more of the embryos placed in the womb will implant successfully, and the couple will be on their way to having a healthy baby of their gender choice (46).

The concept of sex selection is being discussed in all corners of the world, some people are grateful and others are questioning the ethics behind it (Kalb 47). Many people believe it should be banned, as it is in the United Kingdom except for medical reasons (46). There are also a number of people worried one gender will be predominately selected over the other and cause an upset in the male to female ratio, as in China (47).

I do not believe parents should be able to control what sex their child is. When a couple makes their choice to have a girl I believe that's says that they wouldn't be as happy or as accepting with a boy. I'm sure that any woman would want to have a baby girl to doll up in pretty dresses and put pretty bows in her hair, but having a boy is just as enjoyable and fun. I am debating on whether or not I think sex selection is okay in preventing a harmful disease that may only affect only a certain sex, however to me that would be the only acceptable reason for selecting your child's sex.

Overall, no technology should be apart in playing