This is the start of an article I published in ABC Science Online on 16 June, about the dangers of allowing couples (especially couples who can pay) to choose the sex of their children through IVF. It builds on Chapter 8 in Sex, Genes & Rock ‘n’ Roll – about Asia’s 200 million missing women.
Pressure is mounting to allow parents using in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) to choose the sex of their child.
This is an emotive issue with many private tragedies at its heart. Like the Melbourne couple with three sons who lost a daughter soon after birth, and then sought to use pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to ensure they had a baby girl.
Some insights from evolutionary biology, and a massive tragedy that is now unfolding in Asia, illustrate why the Victorian Patient Review Panel was right to reject the bid of these grieving parents.
