Sex Selection
...heir family.” Microsort published its findings in September 1998, opening a door to the public into a world many never thought possible (Belkin, 30). At the time of publication, Microsort successfully produced thirteen out of fourteen baby girls, with similar findings for boys. Currently, 295 out of 325 babies were female and thirty-nine out of fifty-one were male (Interview, Genetics and I.V.F. Institute). Microsort may be the first of many technological advances in the field of genetic engineering that may change the world, as we know it. Who knows? Perhaps a couple’s ability to choose their baby’s gender, eye color, height, I.Q., and even personality may be next. In the world today, people persistently differ in their views on many issues, including gun control, abortion, cloning, and although you may not think so, selecting the sex of your children. Michael Reid is a representative in the Missouri House of Representatives. After reading an article in the New York Times in the fall of 2001, he was alarmed by the information he read regarding the Microsort procedure (Freeman). In October 2001, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine ruled that it is proper and ethical to help couples to choose the sex of their babies. John Robertson, the chairman of the society’s ethics committee said, “Sex selection was acceptable for reasons of gender variety” (Gottlieb, 828). Reid, who was appalled by the procedure decided to do something about it. He introduced a bill in the Missouri House that would ban discrimination against human embryos based on their gender. Reid stated, “It would be wrong to discriminate against a potential human being based on gender. Advances in life sciences are moving very rapidly, especially in the field of human reproductive technology. I think it’s important for society to become engaged in these issues and set some boundaries for what is acceptable” (Freeman). Currently, the practice of gender discrimination against human embryos is prohibited in the United Kingdom except in cases of sex related genetic disease. Under Reid’s proposed legislation, a similar ban would take place in the State of Missouri. This bill would make anyone who selects a human embryo for implantation through in-vitro fertilization based on the gender of the embryo guilty of a class A misdemeanor; A second or subsequent violation in the class D felony (Missouri House of Representatives). The bill, which has not made it to the House’s calendar, just might be the end of Microsort. Like many developments in science, Microsort could be used in ways that are both good and bad for human beings. Someone might, on religious grounds, believe that sex selection is wrong, or might believe that it is wrong to interfere with Mother Nature (McCarthy, 302). Sex selection will undoubtedly raise many issues. Societies that value boys more highly than girls, such as China and India, are already out of balance. Microsort could tip the scales even further. Such an outcome is unlikely in the U.S., where surveys show that equal numbers of parents want girls as boys. But the same polls show that Americans believe an ideal family has a boy as the oldest child. Boys often end up being more assertive and more dominant than girls, as do firstborn children. Skewing the population toward dominant first born children could make it even harder to get rid of gender-role stereotypes in society (Lemonick, 66). In a recent case before the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority in the United Kingdom, a family with four boys that had lost their young daughter in a fire asked to be allowed to choose female embryos for in-vitro fertilization. The H.F.E.A. refused, fearing that sex selection for purposes other than to prevent a sex-linked disease, such as hemophilia, would push British society toward eugenics (creating a better world by improving the human gene pool), or at least overuse of sex-selection (Brownlee, 30). Some people think that something must be done to stop sex selection. The governments of India and China have banned prenatal tests solely to determine the sex of a fetus. However, some people are worried that “curbing sex-determination tests will drive many families back to the centuries-old practice of killing baby girls shortly after birth, or so favoring boys, with scarce supplies of food and other benefits, that girls die young” (Steinbock, 26). While this is just one side of the issue, there is strong support for a banning of sex selection. A survey conducted found that most people wouldn’t choose the sex of their child because the sex of their child would not matter to them. However, what if you were a parent of three boys and all your life, you wanted a girl. Would you used Microsort and go for a girl? Eleven out of seventeen people said they would go for the girl and use Microsort (Survey). Keith Bauer, the Genetics and I.V.F. Institute’s director of Microsort, was quoted as saying, “It’s very important for couples to have reproductive choice, and we can help them fulfill the goals they have for their family. We want couples to have wanted, healthy children” (Barnes). While Microsort is ideal for weeding out X-linked disorders, most patients treated at the Genetics and I.V.F. Institute want to even out their families, a life style rather than a medical reasoning. While this is the view of the G.I.V.F. Institute, many doctors disagree, and think the procedure should be used for medical indications only (Lemonick, 65). In the same survey, fourteen out of seventeen people, when asked to pick the amount of sons and daughters in their ideal family, responded that they would want an equal number of sons and daughters, whether it being one, two, or even four of each gender (survey). For this reason, a majority of people agrees with the American Society for R...