Should parents be allowed to select their baby’s gender?

Should parents be allowed to select their baby’s gender?

Today science has improved so much that people look for the solutions in everything. In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) gives couples a chance to have their own baby. Embryologists have developed their ability in choosing the sex of the baby. The new technology has been welcomed by couples who want to choose the sex of the baby, especially those who undergo IVF treatment. There are other ethical issues which have been considered regarding the potential imbalanced population, concerns about nature being over taken by the scientists and IVF becomes a business in bio market.

The main ethical issues a deciding the sex of the baby is that it may an imbalance in the population between the genders of the babies in future generation. We can choose one sex or reject the other. An Asian culture such as China and India mostly favours boys, and girls are being aborted or killed and the population of females is skewed. “At Hill’s clinic about 65% request boys; at Steinberg’s 55%.” (www.couples company.com 2008) this statistical data supports the opinion that more couples want baby boys. By allowing the parents to select the sex of the baby, there will be an imbalance population in the future. The consequence of this could be fewer female adults to enter into marriage.

Scientists are just playing with human life and nature, by introducing these technologies. When IVF was introduced, couple’s concern was about having a baby. But now it has gone too far by allowing selection of sex of the baby. IVF treatment is beneficial for infertile couples. Choosing the gender of the baby suggest that the science went over the limit. Child life relies on the IVF market instead of god or nature and it shows lower humanity of the modern human race.

This new technology is mostly welcomed by the genetic engineering market. More males are intending to sell their sperm because IVF needs many sperm to choose correct sex of baby. Consumers are driven to buy the sperm from eugenic purpose. There are two types of sperm, X for baby girl and Y for baby boy. Recently Sperm banks are short of sperm because of the number of people using IVF technology. Bioengineering is turning into a business market, where babies used are objects of gene manipulation.

Parents should be not allowed choose their gender of the baby, unless they have sex-link disorders in the family. The population studies have proven that this technology leads to results of imbalanced population in the two genders. There is a need to interfere in the gender selection using IVF. The concerns about nature being over-taken by scientists suggest lack of humanity in the modern world, and babies are designed to suit the family. The IVF treatment becomes a business in the bio market. It is not fair to value a price for the life of a baby on the market. The gender of the babies should be left as a surprise to the parents. If everything was per-planned then there would be nothing interesting in life. Science sometimes takes this little happiness away from the family. Parents should not have the right to select the sex of the baby. Let nature decide the gender of the baby.