UK Ban on Embryo Sex Selection

Ethicists Find UK Ban On Embryo Sex Selection ‘Unjustifiable’

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130702202829.htm

As Europe’s leading fertility specialists gather at a conference in London this weekend, a major new publication from leading medical ethicists finds no justification to support the UK’s legal ban on sex selection before pregnancy for ‘social’ reasons.
Overall, the ethicists found that new techniques to choose the sex of future children would be ethical to offer in the UK, based solely on parents’ preference to have a child of a particular sex. The in vitro techniques are used at the embryonic stage or earlier, and at present are only legally permitted for use in the UK to avoid the birth of babies with medical problems such as sex–linked inherited disorders.

No population–level sex ratio imbalance would occur if sex selection using fertility treatments were permitted for non–medical reasons, within a strong regulatory framework. No ethical distinction was found between providing ‘family balancing’ (sex selection to ensure that a new sibling is of the opposite sex to existing children), or sex selection for an only child, the firstborn, or for every child in a family, including selecting all the children to be of the same sex.
Sexism was not found to be inherent in the wish to choose the sex of a baby. Some requests reflect a high value placed on each gender being represented within a family. Other requests may stem from sexism or gender stereotyping, but these attitudes in themselves do not pose such risks to children that sex selection should be prohibited.

The authors concluded that, in the UK, it would not be right for ‘social’ sex selection treatments to be funded by the taxpayer.

I agree entirely with the last statement. Why on earth should the tax payer fund someone else’s desire. The decision to choose the sex of ones child is of no concern to the discerning tax payer whatsoever and I would find it shocking indeed that such regulation would be imposed upon them. Within the country we have a plethora of views, some pro children, some against, some with children, some without, religious denominations etc. There would be so many people who would be against choosing the sex of a baby – it would be entirely unethical to force them to pay money towards a system they did not support.
I disagree with the first principle that deciding the sex of ones child is alright. For me a child is a gift (whether from God or not) and should be cherished as such. Deciding the sex of this child suggests this gift is not quite what you wanted and turns the earliest moments of parenthood into selfishness and commercisalisation. Those people who have to have children via IVF would be grateful to conceive a child at all, never mind choose the sex of this being.

Finally, there are far too many problems even if this suggestion was viable. This, like many other modern day ethical conundrums, would lead to other things if enforced. I believe that, if sex selection was made legal, then it would open the door to a whole host of other procedures of Eugenic like ethos. Scholars have tried to quash these worries but I believe they are a legitimate concern in the present climate.

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