The article above, titled "Overplanned parenthood: a pricey lab procedure can select your baby's sex. Will custom-made babies be science-fiction much longer?" raises questions on both sides of the ethical debate. The choice of choosing a baby's gender for non-medical reasons using PGD has generated arguments back and forth, with a compromise yet to spring forward.
Main ethical considerations when deciding a stance is the destruction of embryos and if embryos are living beings or not. Also, it is controversial to how much freedom of choice a parent should get, and if it includes being able to choose a baby's gender.
The United States is one of the few countries that allows PGD for sex selection. PGD for sex selection banned in Canada, India, China, and other countries. The laws on PGD vary from country to country, and changes with time. Some countries ban PGD for non-medical reasons, others prohibit PGD entirely. Many families who live in a country that has bans travel to other countries that do not have bans to sex selection through PGD, in order to make sure their future child is a boy/girl.
Many unanswered questions remain about this relatively new reproductive technology. Will its use grow to be so severe that there will be a gender imbalance? Since the United States is one of the few countries that allows PGD for sex selection, will any other countries approve/lift its ban for sex selection through PGD? And will the ability to choose gender lend to new ideas and research for choosing embryos for hair color, eye color, and height?
Main ethical considerations when deciding a stance is the destruction of embryos and if embryos are living beings or not. Also, it is controversial to how much freedom of choice a parent should get, and if it includes being able to choose a baby's gender.
The United States is one of the few countries that allows PGD for sex selection. PGD for sex selection banned in Canada, India, China, and other countries. The laws on PGD vary from country to country, and changes with time. Some countries ban PGD for non-medical reasons, others prohibit PGD entirely. Many families who live in a country that has bans travel to other countries that do not have bans to sex selection through PGD, in order to make sure their future child is a boy/girl.
Many unanswered questions remain about this relatively new reproductive technology. Will its use grow to be so severe that there will be a gender imbalance? Since the United States is one of the few countries that allows PGD for sex selection, will any other countries approve/lift its ban for sex selection through PGD? And will the ability to choose gender lend to new ideas and research for choosing embryos for hair color, eye color, and height?