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WATCHDOG TESTS ETHICS OF SELECTING BABY’S SEX

Parents could be given the right to choose the sex of their children under proposals put out to consultation today by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.

Ministers are expected to make a decision next year on whether to allow couples to select whether to have a boy or a girl using technology already operating experimentally in the United States.

However, critics of the scheme said that it would allow parents to play God with the sex of their child and have called for the technique to be outlawed in Britain.

The technique, known in America as MicroSort, is 91 per cent effective at producing girls and 74 per cent effective at producing boys. At present there is no legislation to prevent it being introduced in Britain and the Government has asked the authority this year to investigate what additional regulations are needed.

In its consultation document published today, the authority said there were serious ethical issues that need to be considered before any regulations could be agreed. In American surveys, 25 per cent of parents said that they would use the technique if it were widely available.

“There are strong arguments in favour of extending the availability of sex selection on the assumed moral right of individuals to exercise freedom of choice,” Tom Baldwin, the report’s author said. “However, the claim that no harm will be done is disputed by many who point to violations of divine law, natural justice and the inherent dignity of human beings.”

One proposal put forward in the report suggests restricting use of the treatment to couples who already have two children of the same sex.

THE TIMES, Oct. 23, 2002