Choosing your childs gender

If new technology were to come out tomorrow which allowed parents to choose the gender of their child , would you say that the use is completley beneficial and moral ? Is this acceptable ?

Add as you see fit

Why would it NOT be moral? If there is no harm done to the fetus itself then I see no problem with that.

I wouldn't use it anyway. I like surprises.

The only issue I can see would be that it could, in the macro-scale, destroy the balance of genders. What would happen if everyone wanted a boy, or otherwise - a girl? That would mean an end to human race, lol ;] As much as it is unlikely to happen, it is possible.

It wouldn't mean the end to the human race at all. If it gets to be a problem, if balance is undone, then they can use that same technology to fix it...

Question is will they notice that soon enough Also, I think I clearly said such situation is very unlikely to happen.

Well, we can only assume that such a process would be monitored, and that steps would be taken to prevent such a thing from happening in the first place.



Also, I never said it was likely to happen. I don't know what bearing how clearly you stated it's unlikeliness is to the current conversation anyway... <.<

That procedure is already been done. Some couple can choose what gender they want for their kids. It's just the matter of selecting the right chromosomes for which gender you want and also how much money you have?

Having said that, it a good procedure for those who long for certain gender of kids as their son/daughter. However, it does, somehow disrupt the gender balance in the world. But I doubt that it will happen that soon, though

The rate at which balance is lost will be noticed before it gets to be a major problem, and steps can be taken to prevent it becoming a major problem, as I said before.

Either way, we seem to be sidestepping one of the questions: Is it moral? Is it moral to mess with nature in such a way? Is it moral to take what could possibly be a girl and make her be born a boy instead? How would you feel if you found that such a procedure was used on you?

Well, there's really 2 questions being asked here.

Is it beneficial?

Is it moral?

So, the question of balance is relevant in terms of how beneficial it would be to skew the gender ratios against nature. However, unless hundreds of thousands of people were to do this, it wouldn't have a large impact on the population of genders. The ratio will still be fairly close as it is now. It'd also require the huge majority of them being the same gender, so as to cause an issue. If it really got that bad, or started to show signs of it, I'm sure there would be limits or bans on any future procedures; similar to how China limits the number of children a couple can have.

But even if it did cause issues with gender ratios, I don't think there is any issue regarding beneficiality. In terms of being beneficial to the planet, I don't think that increasing the population of a world suffering the effects of global warming and over-population is beneficial regardless of the gender.

On a personal level (in general, not personally myself), it may be beneficial if you wanted a specific gender, or having had 4 sons wanted a daughter and didn't want nature to decide. But on a scale of 0-10 for beneficial-ness... it's not any higher than 2 in my opinion. It's nice, but not really necessary to enjoy life. You're still gonna be happy if you were wanting another child.

I'm not against the idea, so I wouldn't consider it to be immoral (as that would be a little strange). It's simply a matter of seperating female from male sperm to ensure a higher success rate for the gender that you choose. There's no genetic manipulation or anything like that. It's just increasing the odds. It's not even a 100% guaranteed chance. Ericsson, the American doctor who developed the technique, claims around 70-75% chance of getting the chosen gender, depending on the gender chosen (http://www.gender-select.com/gender_selection/ericsson-method) - 70-72% chance of a female child, 70-75% for a male.

I don't think, then, that it is either immoral or wholly beneficial to have the ability to select the gender of your child. However, it may be something that I'd consider, if I'd had several children of one gender, and really wanted another. In the end though, I'm a believer that nature knows best, and most of the time I'm happy with what nature provides.

The only problem I can see arising is if the procedure goes to such an extreme that the world (For example) becomes dominantly female , while the male of the species dies out.

Otherwise it seems to be a matter of choice ? Other than the situation stated above, why does it matter if their are more of one gender than another ? If you had the ability to choose then why should you not ?

Quote :

In the end though, I'm a believer that nature knows best, and most of the time I'm happy with what nature provides.

Most likely you'd be happy either way . But why does nature know best ? Does nature see into the future to how you will interact with your progeny ? Nature will have no idea if a father wants a boy so much that he will beat his child if it's a girl.

tbh i personally want a daughter, as long as this isnt some ridiculous procedure that endangers my imaginary wife and subsequently makes my life take a clannad turn(i tear up just thinking about it) then i dont see any reason why not, but thats just me being selfish. some people like the surprise of not knowing what gender the baby is until the actual birth. like always, comes down to personal preference.

and the chances of all potential parents on the planet wanting a girl(for example) are so astronomically high that i dont even think thats a problem.

also idk how id feel if i found out that my parents chose what gender i would be... this may result in a generation of gender confused children... not that its a bad thing... but u know.

Shadowed Luminous wrote:

Most likely you'd be happy either way . But why does nature know best ? Does nature see into the future to how you will interact with your progeny ? Nature will have no idea if a father wants a boy so much that he will beat his child if it's a girl.

Nature knows more about what's best for itself than we do. And like nature cannoy see into the future, neither can we. People do not always know what is best for themselves, or what they truly want. Neither do they know exactly what they will do in the future.

On the topic of nature, though, there are cultist beliefs that things we consider natural disasters are nothing more than nature trying to balance itself (ie reduce the population due to overpopulation/pollution issues). In the bigger picture, something like the destruction of the dinosaurs could be seen as nature doing what it knows or maybe feels is best, as opposed to something like a cosmic accident. People believe a lot of things. Doesn't always mean they're right, or that they understand what is best either. I just know which one I trust more.