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U.S. Parents Choosing Babies' Sex
by
findingDulcinea Staff
Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is being used by parents to choose the sex of their child. Not everyone approves.
30-Second Summary
PGD was initially created as a way to distinguish healthy embryos from those predisposed to genetic diseases during in vitro fertilization.
By identifying genetic defects in embryos, the process allows prospective parents to select only healthy embryos to be implanted in the uterus.
Now PGD has a new use, enabling parents to choose the sex of their child.
However, Dr. Mark Hughes, a pioneer in the process, does not believe PGD should be used for sex selection.
“I went into science and into medicine to diagnose and treat and hopefully cure disease, and the last time I checked your gender wasn’t a disease,” he told ABC News.
Yet Dr. Jeffrey Steinberg, who offers PGD sex selection, told Florida television station WFTV that just as people were hesitant about in vitro fertilization 30 years ago, so PGD seems “scary and new.”
But in time people will come to accept sex selection, Steinberg says. “We shouldn't impose ourselves on other people's decisions. If they've got a problem with it, stay away from it.”
Although sex selection for non-medical reasons is legal in the United States, it is illegal in a number of countries, such as China, Britain, Germany, Italy and Canada.
By identifying genetic defects in embryos, the process allows prospective parents to select only healthy embryos to be implanted in the uterus.
Now PGD has a new use, enabling parents to choose the sex of their child.
However, Dr. Mark Hughes, a pioneer in the process, does not believe PGD should be used for sex selection.
“I went into science and into medicine to diagnose and treat and hopefully cure disease, and the last time I checked your gender wasn’t a disease,” he told ABC News.
Yet Dr. Jeffrey Steinberg, who offers PGD sex selection, told Florida television station WFTV that just as people were hesitant about in vitro fertilization 30 years ago, so PGD seems “scary and new.”
But in time people will come to accept sex selection, Steinberg says. “We shouldn't impose ourselves on other people's decisions. If they've got a problem with it, stay away from it.”
Although sex selection for non-medical reasons is legal in the United States, it is illegal in a number of countries, such as China, Britain, Germany, Italy and Canada.
Headline Link: ‘Baby Quest! Boy Or Girl—You Decide’
Florida television station WFTV looks at the debate surrounding the use of PGD for sex selection. The article concludes with a study by Tarun Jain, M.D., from the University of Illinois at Chicago, which found that “less than 18 percent of the general population surveyed would take advantage of medical technology to ensure a boy or girl.”
Source: WFTV
Background: Couples who have used PGD, home-prenatal sex tests and the UN
In 2006, ABC News spoke with the Magills, a family with three daughters who decided to use pre-implantation genetic diagnosis in order to have a son. They ended up with twin boys. However, Dr. Mark Hughes, a pioneer in the process, does not believe PGD should be used for sex selection.
Source: ABC News
Slate writer William Saletan discusses the rising popularity of at-home prenatal sex tests: “How many of those tests have led to abortions? Nobody knows. And that's the point: Because the test is taken at home, nobody but the couple has to know that the subsequent abortion is for sex selection." The tests cost about $300 or less, and can be used within five to seven weeks of conception.
Source: Slate
On Feb. 25, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced a global campaign to end violence against women. Ban Ki-moon addressed the issue of gender selection in a speech to the Commission on the Status of Women. “At least one out of every three women is likely to be beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime. Through the practice of prenatal sex selection, countless others are denied the right even to exist,” he stated.
Source: The United Nations
Related Topics: Sex selection in China and India and a Down syndrome screening test
In March 2007, findingDulcinea reported on the decreasing number of baby girls being born in China and India. China expects that by 2020 there will be 30 million more Chinese men than women in the country.
Source: findingDulcinea
In May 2007, findingDulcinea reported on the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' recommendation that doctors provide a Down syndrome screening test to all pregnant women regardless of age. Approximately 5,500 babies are born each year with Down syndrome, and according to The New York Times, about 90 percent of women carrying fetuses diagnosed with the syndrome have abortions.
Source: findingDulcinea
Reference: PGD
EMedicine states that “pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is a technique used to identify genetic defects in embryos created through in vitro fertilization (IVF) before transferring them into the uterus.”
Source: eMedicine
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