Sex selection is an extremely controversial subject. It is the technology that allows people to choose their children based on their gender. The guidelines recommend that sex selection is not to be used for non-medical reasons, but these guidelines have found themselves under review and creating a debate about the problems even more timely.
Sex selection is commonly used for families that have a family of all girls, and really want the opportunity to have a little boy, single mothers who opt for sperm donation and prefer to choose the sex of their miracle and probably only child, and families that may have a predisposition for a certain disease that may only affect a particular gender.
IVF sex selection has been available for a while now, and it comes in these different methods:
- Sex determination of the fetes which may be followed by an abortion if this is an undesired sex
- IVF follow by the pre-implantation genetic diagnosis where the embryo of the wanted sex are transferred to the uterus of the mother
Sperm sorting and flow cytometry that can separate the x bearing from the y bearing sperms via their slight differences in weight. They use the (x) enriched or the (y) enriched sperm that will fertilise the egg.
One issue that people face is the moral and ethical implication of breaking the law of nature and going against the traditional way of conception if you can. There are some people that are against interfering with the gender of the child. These people will criticise saying you cannot play god and choose the sex of your baby.
Impractical expense
Another problem parents face when going with IVF sex selection, and that is the high cost that comes with it. Scientifically implanting an embryo with a specific gender can cost around $30,000 just on the treatment itself. You will then face fees that you may need to save. This can be hard as it cannot guarantee you will become pregnant. Most accurate is the IV and PGD, but this is not available for those who want a specific gender child. You will need to pass certain criteria to be allowed this treatment, such as for genetic issues.
You may not be the right decision in the long run
It may not be a good idea for parents in the long run as critics say there is no assurance for parents who say that they have undergone such a complicated process to conceive a child, and will they remain happy if they have gone through with it. If things do not happen to work out as they have wished, you may end up with regret and see it as a mistake. Some believe that if conception were done the natural way if possible, there would be less chance of any regrets.
Even though gender selection is an ongoing practice, there are still ethical and moral things to take into consideration and be debated upon by both the opponents and proponents. The privilege of choosing the gender of a baby that the parents’ desires seem to be a logical choice for some, but it can also raise questions of the morality when it comes to the embryo’s that are not selected. At the end of the day, the burden and the decision will lie on the parents. In the meantime, IVF gender selection is still standing as a big controversial issue.
There will be many different problems that the parents to be will face from the next couple, and quite often the issues sometimes don’t appear until later on, so you always need to take problems before and after into consideration before you make the final decision.
