Sex selection: the right way forward.

Abstract

Couples in India China Korea and the Middle East overwhelmingly prefer to have male children for economic hereditary religious and cultural reasons. Many argue that allowing couples in these countries to use reproductive technologies to choose the sex of their children will ultimately skew the human sex ratio toward a disproportionately male population. Critics of sex selection technology and practice have extended that logic to the case of more developed Western countries. A 1993 survey of more than 2300 pregnant women in the British population found no overall preference for either sex child. This finding is largely consistent with other surveys conducted in the US. Devoid of any overall preference for either sex child Western couples subject to certain guidelines should therefore be allowed to choose the sex of their children. The use of such technology in a developed country like the UK only helps couples to balance and complete their families not skew the human sex ratio. The authors describe the necessary procedures to run a responsible sex selection clinic.