Prenatal Sex Selection & Reproductive Rights

Prenatal Sex Selection & Reproductive Rights

Breanna Harris | Claire Hein | Miliza Tadeo

Sex Selection Defined

“The basic rights of all couples and individuals to decide freely and have responsibility of the number, spacing and timing of their children and to have the information and methods to do so.” - International Conference on Population and Development

-- The attempt to select or influence the sex of an unborn child through medical and/or non-medical means

In what follows •Categories of Sex Selection

•Portrayal in the US

•Legal & Ethical considerations

•World views

•Final thoughts

Categories of Sex Selection•Flow Cytometry (sperm sorting)

- Most common

- Safety & effectiveness is the only regulator in the U.S. and Great Britain

- U.S. success rate:

90% Girls & 73% Boys

•Preimplantation Diagnostics Test (testing of embryos during in vitro fertilization)

- Frowned upon for the sole purpose of selecting child’s sex

- Supported for gender balancing among families

-Nearly 100% effective in predetermining the sex of a child

•Non-medical

-Modify body chemistry of parents

-Intercourse timing

-Dietary guidelines

-Nutriceuticals

-Vaginal environment adjustment

Sex Selection in the US•Vanity

-Preferred hair or eye color

-Athletic ability, intelligence, physical prowess

•Becoming a “normal” form of conception

-New medicinal technology

-Public media

-Support groups

-At-home Kits

First Born Preferences

Source: Social sex selection and the balance of the sexes: Empirical evidence from Germany, the UK, and the US. Journal of Assisted Reproduction & Genetics (2006)

Interest in Sex Selection

Source: Social sex selection and the balance of the sexes: Empirical evidence from Germany, the UK, and the US. Journal of Assisted Reproduction & Genetics (2006)

Legal & Ethical IssuesLegal“…if parents would consider the sex of their child determinative of their decision to reproduce, then the decision to select sex must be constitutionally protected”

vs

“Legal restrictions on use of noncoital reproductive techniques might preclude persons from the only reproduction possible for them [and] their procreative liberty would be limited significantly."

Legal & Ethical IssuesEthical

Is any form of gender selection ethical?

•Reinforcement of gender bias

•Imbalanced sex ratio

•Implications for eugenics

•Discarding of embryos

Final word from the ASRM Ethics Committee“…Couples should be discouraged from undergoing IVF with preimplantation genetic diagnosis solely to choose the gender of offspring.”

“All methods of gender selection, even prefertilization methods, are inherently discriminatory or sexist.”

“Preconception methods of sex selection could be ethically used for creating gender variety in a family”

World Views•Male sex preferred:

-South Asia, East Asia, North Africa, France,

-Neglect of health and nutrition of female fetuses

•Female sex preferred:

-Czech Republic, Lithuania, Portugal

•Forbidden in most European countries

•Ban on sex selection in Australia, not allowed in New Zealand

-Only permitted to prevent “inheritable diseases”

•Infanticide among the impoverished

•Sex selection is not to be used for terminating a fetus

World ViewsAsian Countries

•Sex Ratio-China - 116.9 boys for every 100 girls (Wiseman,

2002)

-South Korea - 115 boys for every 100 girls (Wiseman, 2002)

•Media

-Male babies preferred for religious reasons

-China’s One-Child Policy creating “Little Emperors”

-Women only want high status mates

World ViewsIndia•Sex Ratio

1000 boys for every 793 girls

•Media

-Male babies cost less over a lifetime

“Invest 500 Rupees now, save 500,000 Rupees later.”

-Abortion is illegal

•Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act (1994)

-Prohibits technology use for the purpose of sex selection

-Preventing abortion of female fetuses

Last Thoughts•Are parents that choose sex selection “bad” parents?

•Does sex selection need to be regulated?

•Do we reject children without superior intelligence? Do not have the right hair or eye color?

•Is pre-selecting your child’s sex being selfish?

Reference

Dahl, E. E., Beutel, M. M., Brosig, B. B., Grüssner, S. S., Stöbel-Richter, Y. Y., Tinneberg, H. R., & Brähler, E. (2006). Social sex selection and the balance of the sexes: Empirical evidence from Germany, the UK,

and the US. Journal of Assisted Reproduction & Genetics, 23(7/8), 311-318. doi:10.1007/s10815-006-9064-yHollingsworth, L. (2005). Ethical Considerations in Prenatal Sex Selection. Health & Social Work, 30(2), 126-134. Retrieved from Proquest.Library of Congress: http://www.loc.gov/law/help/sex-selection/india.php last

updated 2011Remaley, R. E. (2000). 'THE ORIGINAL SEXIST SIN': REGULATING PRECONCEPTION SEX SELECTION TECHNOLOGY. Health Matrix: Journal

of Law-Medicine, 10(2), 249. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.Robertson, J. (2002) Sex selection: Final word from the ASRM ethics Committee on the use of PGD. The Hastings Center Report, 32(2), 6. Retrived from Proquest