medical news

In-Vitro Study Lets Participants Choose Baby’s Gender

By Darla Sitton
CBN News Producer

CBN.com – (CBN News) - Expectant couples are almost always asked if they prefer a boy or a girl. But doctors at Houston's Baylor College of Medicine are giving parents the chance to choose.

Dr. Sandra Carson of Baylor College of Medicine said, "We want to know whether using this technology for an elective, non-medical reason is a good idea."

In the U.S., doctors routinely check embryos for genetic defects that can be more common in one sex or another. But the aim of the current Baylor study is to understand why people want a girl or a boy -- and then, through the process of in-vitro fertilization -- make their dream a reality.

"Before we make a procedure available in a routine, clinical way, I think it's a good ideas to get actual facts from couples who are doing it," Carson said.

Baylor volunteers answer detailed questions about their preferences, and they explain how their expectations differ with a boy or a girl.

"Social Sex Selection" is so controversial that it took nine years to obtain permission to do the study. The practice is banned in many countries, including Canada, Britain, and the U.S.

Many leaders in the medical community believe that playing around with gender is a moral "slippery slope."

"Once you say it's okay to screen for gender,” commented Professor George Annas of Boston University, “there's nothing that you can say that it's not okay to screen for, whether it’s eye color, hair color, trivial issues..."

A recent survey found that 59 percent of women would not pick their baby's gender under any circumstances. One woman commented, "I would never opt for this procedure. I think it's one of the world's greatest surprises."

Many say that is the way it should be.

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