May 14th, 2003
Family Balancing
A friend of mine sent this to me today… interesting stuff regarding sex selection of your newborn…
Subject: The Word Spy for 05/14/2003 — family balancing
Date: Wed, 14 May 2003 01:45:31 -0400
family balancing pp.
Attempting to select the sex of a baby to achieve an even or desired
number of children of both sexes.
Example Citation
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The Laguna Hills clinic, which is a joint effort with the Huntington
Reproductive Center of Southern California, offers sex selection for
two purposes: to help couples avoid passing on a gender-linked
genetic disease and to allow families who already have a child of one
gender “balance” their families by having a baby of the opposite
sex.
The technology is still experimental; couples using the method will
do so as part of a clinical trial overseen by the Food and Drug
Administration. However, Blauer says the company has impressive
success rates; 91% of the women who become pregnant after sorting for
a girl are successful, while 76% who sort for a boy and get pregnant
are successful. …
While the Meissners wished to avoid passing on a genetic disease, 86%
of the MicroSort’s clients so far have used the method for “family
balancing,” with most of them seeking girls.
–Shari Roan, “A way to choose a baby’s gender,” Los Angeles Times,
March 3, 2003
More info available at: http://www.microsort.net/
Backgrounder
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Family balancing has been much in the news of late because of its
inherent ethical implications. The biggest issue comes from a
technique called preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) in which an
egg is harvested, fertilized with sperm, and then screened for
certain genetic characteristics. If the embryo has the
characteristics the parents want (or if it lacks certain
characteristics, such as a genetic disease carried by one or both
parents), then it’s implanted in the mother’s womb and the pregnancy
proceeds normally. The problem lies in the opposite case: if the
embryo doesn’t have the required characteristics (or has the
disease). In this case, the embryo is often destroyed and another egg
is chosen. This rejection of “unsuitable” embryos makes many people
uneasy, particularly when the rejection is based on non-life
threatening criteria, such as the embryo’s sex.
The good news is that a new technique — called MicroSort (see the
example citation) — has been developed that eliminates embryo
destruction. This technique attempts to sort sperm into two groups:
those carrying the X-chromosome and those carrying the Y-chromosome.
If your family balancing requires a girl, then the X-chromosome sperm
are used to fertilize the egg; if a boy is preferred, the
Y-chromosome group is sent into action.
Earliest Citation
———————————
But for every new medical achievement there are potentially troubling
issues. It is now possible through preimplantation genetic testing to
screen for devastating hereditary diseases such as Tay-Sachs and
cystic fibrosis. But what about someday screening for conditions like
blindness or deafness, which are hardly life threatening but
nevertheless affect the quality of life? Who determines whether
embryos with genetic defects should be used or not? Is it wrong to
allow only perfect babies to be born?
How about screening for the “right” sex? Dr. Schulman of the Genetics
& IVF Institute says his clinic does not offer gender selection. But
he says he can see its application in “family balancing.” Says
Schulman: “If a family has three children of one sex, would it really
be so wrong to help bring about the birth of the opposite sex?” No
doubt plenty of people would say yes.
–Susan Caminiti, “The ordeal of infertility,” Fortune, August 8,
1994