Should we select the sex of our children?

Answer 1

When you are adopting, then yes.

Otherwise not ethical.

Answer 2

Absolutely not. First of all, it plays into the idea that children are somehow the 'property' of their parents and that parents have the right to mold them how they choose. You're supposed to educate them as best you can and teach them values, but when a parent decides they want to mold a child in a certain way, they don't have the child's well-being at heart, only their own vanity. A child is a not plaything. Parents need to accept the children they have. That is nature's way.
Second, this is creating serious problems in some countries like China and India, where parents tend to prefer sons. Today, a generation of Chinese is missing 44 million girls in the normal balance of things. This will likely give raise to a generation of angry young men and women who will be seen as little more than pricey commodities. In India, it has already become the custom in some parts for brothers to share a bride.
So absolutely not. The birth ratio of girls to boys has been carefully engineered by nature. Only human vanity makes parents prefer their child a certain ways (Usually boys in this case). It does not serve the betterment of humanity and is, in fact detrimental.
Also, historically, sexual imbalances get solved by major wars. This is also a very dangerous state of affairs.

Answer 3

current technology means making a bunch of embyro's and killing the gender you don't want.
and maybe even soem of the one you do as there are more than you need for a baby.
selecting a baby this way is not right.

too, even if you could just take a pill that made all your sperm come out with a certain gender on it,
I could see a big problem.
the natural ratio of men to women.
can you imagine in some places were they want all men, that they effectivly could have that?
within a generation or two, what would the population look like?
it woudl be a disaster.

it is my opnion, that if you want a certain sex, you should adopt.

Answer 4

I suggests that preconception sex selection (PSS), the budding technology of sperm sorting, embodies a dilemma between "individual desires and the larger common good" and could "accelerate the trend toward genetic selection of offspring characteristics"

The dilemma of PSS is more accurately one between choice and chance in the determination of our children. Widespread conscious selection of the genetic constitutions of our offspring, including their gender, would be a dramatic departure for humanity, but it is not at all evident that such a development would be detrimental to our children, ourselves, or society at large. As for PSS, whatever its eventual impact, it will be a long time before it even begins to approach the enormous influence of plain old family planning. Modern contraception has not been without its negative impacts, but we've largely embraced the practice because of the value we place on controlling the number and timing of our children. In the not too distant future, we may think it equally important to choose their genetics, wrestling aspects of this determination from nature's whims.

The ability to control a child's genetic makeup opens up possibilities for abuse, but it offers benefits too. Besides reducing the more obvious misfortunes attending the genetic roulette of conception, such technology will amplify our children's tendencies toward the qualities we value, whatever they may be. The two-edged nature of the ability to exert such influence is what makes this arena so challenging.

Answer 5

Why not let them select their own sex.
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IN all seriousness, I kind of think that generally speaking things like this should be left to natural conception as much as possible, HOWEVER say there is a time where you have a child in the womb and it exibits both male and female traits(hermaphrodite)...well ~ What do you do? Do you select one way or the other and give appropriate drug therapies to conduce one sex over the other...OR do you abort? Or what? I think we as a society need to consider things like this just to better our understanding and to know what to do in case something like this happens... I mean another option is perhaps you would have the child (as a hermaphrodite) and then allow the child to SELECT on his or her own what direction he or she would go later in life... In/thru science that we have there are advances all the time in this neck of the woods.... I think I am not the right person to speak on this perhaps just put in thoughts and questions.. I mean well perhaps there is a person who was born like such and that person could speak about such as far as his or her thoughts on the issue. There is an issue of PAIN and well we woudl want to limit the pain for any individual who may be in pain, to the degree of saying well if we do that "procedure" while the child is young or still in the womb even, well it may be "less invasive" than having teh child born that way and then having to have a "procedure" later in life.

Sorry to take it off topic, but perhaps it really isn't too far off topic from what you're saying pe... I mean if man messes around so much in a selective way as you suggest who is to say that it would not lead to an entire line of hermaphrditism.

MY HEART AND PRAYERS go out to anyone who may be in a "tough situation" as referenced above or other similar situations. I pray for advanced science and a WISE mind of man.

www.link.20fr.com

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just for teh record, I do not know if "hermaphrditism" is a positive or negative trait for any given person.. i mean what if there are entire tribes of people who are hermaphroditic and they live that life... I mean I do not want to be ignorant to teh degree of not mentioning this possibility..... but I do recall the times when people wanted one trait or the other,

Answer 6

Definitely not. Some cultures value one sex over another - male babies in China, for example. Imagine what happens when genetic engineering allows Chinese families to select primarily males; then, where do their mates come from? Wars with other countries to kidnap their females. There's already enough to fight over without adding sex to the mix!

Answer 7

Maybe in an extreme case where there is a genetic problem that is only contracted by one gender, like hemophilia in boys (although girls can be carriers.)

If everyone could choose, pretty soon you'd have a big population imbalance between the genders. Besides, I don't think the technology exists to do that yet anyway.

Answer 8

If it didn't include killing them. Like artificial insemination with both the husband and wife. Using only female sperm or male sperm. Knew a lady with 5 boys who wanted a daughter so bad.
Or what about people who have 3 girls and the man wants a son.
Would it be so terrible to take the sperm and remove the female sperm if that was possible. So he could have a son.

Answer 9

I do not agree with that at all, I believe that there is a reason behind everything in our lives, A child is a gift from God and we should not interfere with that, whatever God grants I will receive it with pleasure, and thank God that I had a baby.
The most important thing for me is to have a healthy baby, nothing else matters.

Answer 10

I have two boys, I would of loved to of had a little girl, but with no guarantees I wasn't willing to have another baby. So I say yes, but only if it didn't hurt anyone.

Answer 11

no... i think we shouldn't be messing with a gift from GOD he has his own plans to why & which sex we should get ..... i thought I wanted a girl when i found out I was pregnant... but i had a boy and it couldn't have been a more perfect plan for me... GOD knows best...