Eugenics Question: Parents queue to select baby gender

Parents queue to select baby gender

A growing number of British couples are undergoing procedures at clinics overseas to determine the gender of their babies. However, as the BBC's Colette McBeth reports, this service is often offered illegally.

Like many a story, it started out with a simple conversation with a friend.

Is that really possible? I remember asking, before going straight home to my laptop and typing the words "gender selection" in the search engine.

My friend had told me she knew of someone who going abroad to have a daughter through IVF.

The woman in question had two boys, both conceived naturally, but had a burning desire for a girl and didn't want to leave anything to chance.

Once on the internet, I was amazed to learn how many women not only wanted the same but felt so strongly about it.

I found whole websites devoted to discussion about where gender selection was legal (not the UK or most of Europe) and the cost of treatment (anything from £7,000 to £17,000).


Many patients who were planning to go abroad were completely confused as to where it was legal and where it wasn't


UK couples 'choosing baby gender'

Women who had four boys but couldn't rest until they had a daughter, or three girls and desperately wanted a son.

And this wasn't a cultural thing. If anything, girls won over boys.

It is possible to almost guarantee the sex of a baby using IVF and a type of embryos screening called Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD).

In most countries, though, PGD is used only for medical reasons. So if there is a genetic disease which runs in boys, couples would be allowed to have PGD to implant only female embryos.

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(article continues here - BBC News

Thought it was an interesting article that some people here would be interested in...

Here is the question for those that like to debate Eugenical issues; is this morally right or wrong?

Other questions could be:
Should parents have the right to choose the sex of their child-to-be, or is it moralistically wrong?
From the genetic disorder angle, to prevent illness in ofspring, is it right or wrong?

Discuss...