Society & Culture1 min ago
Overhaul of fertility laws - Choosing a baby's sex
In a recent sky news poll on their web site 83% said no. I do not think parants should be able to choose the sex of their baby, under any circumstances what do you think?
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so should we stop looking for a cure for cancer?
My wife chose the sex of her children, the hair colour and eye colour. Its called adoption and happens everyday.
I personally don't see a reason against choosing the sex of a child. We mess with nature everyday from construction of plastics to driving our cars. The majority of illnesses can be cured now.
In previous centuries, I am guessing that the life expectancy was less than 50 years. Is it therefore natural to assume that humans shouldn't live longer than that?
This is not India or China where dowerys (sp?) are paid for brides, and we don't need lots of men to help work the fields. I can see no reason for wanting to choose the sex, but I can also so no reason against it
i think that in some cases it is acceptable, my cousin has problems with carrying boys, due to a genetic disorder and with help of a geneticist in london has been able to have two girls.
In rare cases like this it is not a problem. If it comes down to wanting a boy or girl it then becomes unethical.
One only has to look at the gender imbalance of the young adult population in China to understand the potential problems with this.
Personally I don't have a problem with choosing the gender of one's child, save for 2 issues. Firstly, I can see very few circumstances where people can justify, on an ethical basis, a desire to exercise such control over their own and their offspring�s lives. Parenthood should not be about preference and prejudice, but about unconditional love.
The second issue is one of process. If we allow people to choose the sex of their baby as a matter of course then I would suggest that we have broken down the barriers of sense that would enable society to prevent more trivial in vitro procedures such as choosing hair colour, athletic ability, propensity to body hair or size of genitals!
I think people would do well to read Larkin's 'This Be The Verse' before making a decision on this. Giving parents the additional ability could be very destructive. How do you regulate against choices governed by fashion, commercial opportunism or simply inappropriate ones (and who makes the call).
Additionally by taking a process that is almost uncontrollable in any sensible democracy and enabling Government to become involved is inherently risky. I think it unlikely that we'll end up in a Huxleyesque 'Brave New World' but any process would need some form of regulation and this would have to be unbelievably carefully legislated for to avoid even a whiff of Eugenics.
It would certainly feel pretty strange to be told during your lifetime that you are a boy or girl because your parents had specifically chosen that.
Mind you, had your parents chosen not to have sex, you wouldn't exist. Go figure that one out.
I feel a 'thin edge of the wedge' post coming on (with 'Brave New World') mentioned somewhere.
There must be some philosophical principle somewhere that predicts how these things pan out...it seems that one taboo after another just keeps getting knocked down. Once you have the idea of 'childless couples' or 'hereditary defect' on your side, you can get away with anything.
Society would have choked at this idea 30 years ago, what will we be seeing in 30 years time? Designer babies on the internet? I can't see why not. I'm not making a value judgement here, it's just the way I see things going.
Seriously though, I disagree. It'll happen anyway, but it is so obviously wrong. On the other hand, would have saved a fair few baby's lives in China.....
* x = gestation period of a horse
This sounds far fetched and like something from a crap sci fi film but how long will it be before some maniac starts to clone/genetically select or breed soldiers or suicide bombers to be the biggest strongest most physically adapt human beings on earth? Can you imagine if Hitler had the technology? Sounds far fetched but is it ? Where do you draw the line? I know if either of my daughter's was dying through a curable disease I couldn't just let it happen so it's a very difficult one to answer.
I believe the Chinese do something along these lines - by aborting girls - leading to a sexual imbalance: far too many males. Though I can't think of any coherent ethical objection, this still seems an undesirable outcome. Could it happen in the west too?
Oneyedvic I don't think this applies to adoption, which in effect involves reassigning babies already born, thus not affecting the overall gender balance. But perhaps boy babies are more/less likely to be adopted?
If they ever implement sex selection, then they have said that (apart from genetic disorders) it will only be possible to use it to 'balance out' a family, for example, if a family had 3 boys and they wanted a girl, then that would be OK. If a young couple desperately just wanted a son, they wouldn't be able to use this technology. Hence, no gender imbalances.
I wouldn't do it, but I don't see anything wrong with this particular use of the technology. HOwever it is obviously a slippery slope...
Oh and Oneeyedvic - I see your argument - but out of interest, did your wife actually choose her adopted children on the basis of their eye and hair colour ?!
morg - she had a form to fill in - there was at the time (27 years ago) a form. You requested age (both new born), hair colour (both blond) eye colour (both blue) sex (eldest male, younger female) etc
I am unsure as to the system has changed or not, but point was she requested a boy and a girl in that order.
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