To what lengths would you go to be able to determine the gender of your baby? Would you be willing to sacrifice $18,000 or possibly even more just to have a baby boy or girl of your choice? In the twenty-first century this has become possible with the new technological advances of today. However, this technology comes with some big questions regarding moral and ethical issues, failure rates, and population ratios among the sexes. This technology has to stop before it gets taken too far and gets out of control.
Some of the moral and ethical issues that have come to mind with this new technology called PGD (spell out) involve differing religious views like what to do with the embryos that were created, and that science is going to take this too far. Some religions believe that a baby should be created between a man and wife and that a child is a precious gift from God no matter what sex the child is. The issues of the embryos that are created in the laboratories pose a problem when it comes to disposal. Should the embryos be destroyed, frozen for later use, donated to scientific laboratories, or where should they end up? These are all ethical and moral questions that are a result of the new PGD technology.
Another issue pertaining to PGD is the failure rate. Although the female is supposedly implanted with a female or male embryo, depending on what the family chose, does that guarantee the scientists were correct? The answer to this question is no. Although some people were lead to believe they were having a female/male, they ended up having the gender they did not specifically chose. This goes to show that this technology has flaws and has a failure rate. There is also another technology called MicroSort which is used in the gender selection process. Many couples who have used this approach have had to use more than one attempt to get pregnant. Therefore, this technology is also far from perfect.
The population could also be affected by gender selection throughout the world. Some countries favor a certain sex, such as
In addition to this new technology, cost is a huge factor. What would you be willing to pay just to have a child of your choice? Would you be willing to pay somewhere between $15,000-$18,000 for PDG technology? MicroSort technology is cheaper at about $2,500; however, it usually takes more than one attempt to become pregnant.
On the other side of the spectrum, this technology has had some breakthroughs for families who have desired a baby of a desired sex. Some families have a distinct history of males or females. So, after numerous children of the same sex, some families would like a baby of a different sex to bring joy to their family.
Another positive outcome that PDG and MicroSort offer is the ability to eliminate embryos that are abnormal. This could potentially increase the number of healthy babies born each year by detecting diseases within the embryo early on. Some families who know they carry a specific gene for a disorder could prevent passing it on to their children through PDG technology.
All in all, technology has definitely changed our society today. What will happen next? Will people be able to determine eye color, intelligence, hair color, and every aspect of their new baby? Nobody knows the exact answer to this question, although technology is becoming more and more advanced, so it is likely that it could be possible in our lifetime. However, there is just a point where it is going to far. There are alternatives to gender selection such as adoption. There are numerous children out there that need homes, so why not adopt? It seems like a logical answer to this technological dilemma facing our world today. However, there are no simple answers to this new advancement, and it is likely to only get more complicated with all of the scientific research.
