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Should parents be allowed to choose the sex of their baby?

Dragonfly

Dragonfly

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Choosing baby's sex: Should parents be allowed to do it? - CNN.com

(CNN)Many couples trying to conceive a child have at least some inkling of whether they want a girl or a boy. These preferences have made some resort to less-than-surefire methods, from taking vitamins to timing when they have sex in order to influence gender.But with the growing popularity of in vitro fertilization, more and more parents-to-be are gaining the ability to determine, with almost 100% certainty, the gender of their baby.

This week, model Chrissy Teigen and her husband, singer John Legend, announced they not only wanted a girl but chose the gender of their baby, a daughter, due this spring.

But decisions over whether couples should be given this choice, and what the consequences of it could be, are anything but certain.
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So, as the title asks? Should parents be allowed to choose the sex of their baby?

Is this too much like "playing god"?

If you could chose the sex of your baby, would you?

Should this be outlawed?

Me personally, I don't care. Do what you want. I don't freak out over the idea of this, nor do I find it offensive.
 
I wouldn't do it, but I support others' right to do so.
 
Yes, it's their kid.

It's not anyone else's business.

Personally, I wouldn't do it though.
 
Sure, why not?
 
I don't give a flying **** about "playing God". I would be ok with this...initially.

Unlike, say, China, I think boys and girls are valued equally by prospective parents in the US so allowing parents to choose the sex of their children would be fine. However, if it turns out that one sex is chosen at a much greater rate than the other it could be a problem in the long run. But we could always change the rules if it starts to look like that is happening.
 
Sure, let them do what they want.
 
Don't see how you can prevent it. Abortions are legal. Courts have weighed in and call it a privacy issue. Unlike which aborts mainly females I would expect to see abortion of males in the US.
 
:inandout:

Have fun with were this thinking will end up.
 
Dragonfly said:
Choosing baby's sex: Should parents be allowed to do it? - CNN.com



So, as the title asks? Should parents be allowed to choose the sex of their baby?

Is this too much like "playing god"?

If you could chose the sex of your baby, would you?

Should this be outlawed?

Me personally, I don't care. Do what you want. I don't freak out over the idea of this, nor do I find it offensive.
Click to expand...




I don't see how this could possibly be considered "playing God" more than abortion... which is legal.



It could, of course, end up having an undesirable effect on gender ratios in the longer term... see China.
 
Let's not get carried away. "Playing god" would be destroying whole cities or something. I also don't see how choosing a gender is as much an intervention as having a kid in the first place.

But i'll admit i don't see why do this for a 1st kid and i'm thinking the mother will usually decide this
 
Gender selection is currently illegal in Australia aside from those families with a risk of genetic abnormalities wishing to choose the sex of their babies. The US sees about 200 people from here per year looking for assistance with gender selection for non-medical reasons.

It's not something I would ever engage in but it's none of my business what others do in a situation such as this, it is up to the individual family involved.

One of the biggest arguments I've seen against it is that it would be a slippery slope to the creation of designer babies where embryos were picked for their prospective intelligence and looks. That is something I could not and do not support.
 
I don't think so for the simple fact that it would probably lead to a unhealthy gender disparity.
 
Serenity said:
One of the biggest arguments I've seen against it is that it would be a slippery slope to the creation of designer babies where embryos were picked for their prospective intelligence and looks. That is something I could not and do not support.
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Why not?
 
BrewerBob said:
I don't give a flying **** about "playing God". I would be ok with this...initially.

Unlike, say, China, I think boys and girls are valued equally by prospective parents in the US so allowing parents to choose the sex of their children would be fine. However, if it turns out that one sex is chosen at a much greater rate than the other it could be a problem in the long run. But we could always change the rules if it starts to look like that is happening.
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And unlike India too where there is also a large pro-male distortion in births.

So sex choice may be fine at the level of individual couples but bad in the context of wider society.
 
There is this thing known as 'unintended consquences'. I don't think it's playing God any more than antibodics, or vaccines, but one 'unintended consequnce' can be shown in both China and India. China had a 'one child only' policy , and also a culture that was very much into 'passing on the male line', while India had implmented the system were the parents of the woman paid the family of the groom a 'price' for marriage. Both ended up so that many more female fetuses were aborted (or even to the point of infantcide), so there is an imbalance of men vs women .. more men than women. That is leaving a lot of sexually frustrated young men .. because there is less women to pair up with... not a good thing for social peace.
 
Dragonfly said:
Choosing baby's sex: Should parents be allowed to do it? - CNN.com



So, as the title asks? Should parents be allowed to choose the sex of their baby?

Is this too much like "playing god"?

If you could chose the sex of your baby, would you?

Should this be outlawed?

Me personally, I don't care. Do what you want. I don't freak out over the idea of this, nor do I find it offensive.
Click to expand...

People who kill embryos because of their gender or any other reason should be given a speedy trial followed by a prompt execution.
 
:roll::doh

This thread is 100% NOT about abortion. For cripes sakes....
 
Dragonfly said:
:roll::doh

This thread is 100% NOT about abortion. For cripes sakes....
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How do you imagine people "choose the sex of their baby"?
 
We like to let things run until we see a huge problem in the U.S. It's how we roll. It's the "grand experimentation!" philosophy.

As to other countries, the practice of picking boys over girls, this evidences how ****ed up some other cultures are, not how bad the practice of gender picking is, in and of itself. They should be picking "sewage system" and "clean air" and such, over a ****ing kid anyway.

If a culture can't handle a certain power responsibly, they should remove it from their own toolbelt (yeah right).
 
Dragonfly said:
Choosing baby's sex: Should parents be allowed to do it? - CNN.com



So, as the title asks? Should parents be allowed to choose the sex of their baby?

Is this too much like "playing god"?

If you could chose the sex of your baby, would you?

Should this be outlawed?

Me personally, I don't care. Do what you want. I don't freak out over the idea of this, nor do I find it offensive.
Click to expand...

playing god is a goal that we should strive for problem is if we do a bad job at it

it would not be a big deal if people chose boys and girls at about the same rate more of a problem if we create a large imbalance
 
Dragonfly said:
That would either be called "population control" or "Darwinism" amIright? ;)
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would prefer the 1st one to the 2nd one

guess we could try offering befits to having children of 1 gender 1st if that dosent worck then i guess moving on to making it illegal to pick your children gender

though if technology improves maybe we could start making baby's from vats

raising them would be a huge undertaking though
 
#1) A rather large (and embarrassing) percentage of babies born were unplanned "surprises". So choosing the sex of the baby in those circumstances is not going to happen.

#2) I see it more as a situation where a couple already has a child and wants to have one more of the opposite sex

#3) My guess would be that far more "planners" would opt for having one of each, over having all of one sex
 
Dragonfly said:
#3) My guess would be that far more "planners" would opt for having one of each, over having all of one sex
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If I were to engage in gender selection, this would be the reason why. Of course, I have no interest in limiting my family to one of each sex, but I would like to reach that as a minimum.
 
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