Sex/Gender Selection
GENDER/SEX SELECTION
For a long period of time now, people have been interested in controlling the sex of their offspring. Whether it is a boy or a girl, there are many different ways to achieve this goal by either using modern science or Mother Nature.
There are several arguments for and against sex selection. Many see gender selection to be all right if there is a medical reason involved. Some see it as a way to control the population. Then, there are people who see it as murder. The question to figure out is; to what extent, in choosing the sex of offspring, does it become immoral.
The oldest approaches involve changes in environment or human behavior around the time of conception. Aristotle believed that a cold southern wind and facing north played a part in the gender of an offspring. They are primarily folk methods, which, we realize today, are scientifically unfounded.{ 1 }
Second, gender selection is widely used in the medical field. There seems to be little concern when gender selection is used to prevent the risk of sex-linked genetic disorders such as certain types of hemophilia, muscular dystrophy, and Hunter syndrome. { 2 }The question frequently asked with gender selection is; is it possible that, medically, it could be a gateway to other forms of selection.
Third, and the most debated issue, is the aborting of fetuses and splitting of sperm. It has become such a huge issue because of the end procedure that takes place. In some cases the gender of the fetus is determined and then either kept or aborted. Other procedures call for the splitting of sperm, where the sperm is split into male and female spermatozoa and then one is discarded and the other is artificially inseminated. RULE-UTILITARIAN
Rule-utilitarian examines two claims that have been advanced in the name of human reason. First, we should look at the moral principal that we should do what is required by moral rules. Rule-utilitarian is based on the concept of
For a long period of time now, people have been interested in controlling the sex of their offspring. Whether it is a boy or a girl, there are many different ways to achieve this goal by either using modern science or Mother Nature.
There are several arguments for and against sex selection. Many see gender selection to be all right if there is a medical reason involved. Some see it as a way to control the population. Then, there are people who see it as murder. The question to figure out is; to what extent, in choosing the sex of offspring, does it become immoral.
The oldest approaches involve changes in environment or human behavior around the time of conception. Aristotle believed that a cold southern wind and facing north played a part in the gender of an offspring. They are primarily folk methods, which, we realize today, are scientifically unfounded.{ 1 }
Second, gender selection is widely used in the medical field. There seems to be little concern when gender selection is used to prevent the risk of sex-linked genetic disorders such as certain types of hemophilia, muscular dystrophy, and Hunter syndrome. { 2 }The question frequently asked with gender selection is; is it possible that, medically, it could be a gateway to other forms of selection.
Third, and the most debated issue, is the aborting of fetuses and splitting of sperm. It has become such a huge issue because of the end procedure that takes place. In some cases the gender of the fetus is determined and then either kept or aborted. Other procedures call for the splitting of sperm, where the sperm is split into male and female spermatozoa and then one is discarded and the other is artificially inseminated. RULE-UTILITARIAN
Rule-utilitarian examines two claims that have been advanced in the name of human reason. First, we should look at the moral principal that we should do what is required by moral rules. Rule-utilitarian is based on the concept of