What is this World Coming To...Choosing Your Baby's Gender

[delph998]

Choosing Your Baby's Gender

NEW YORK, Nov. 7, 2002

(CBS/The Early Show)

(CBS) Gender selection is an idea that was initially used to help parents avoid passing genetic disease to their children, but is increasingly used to help couples achieve a family balance between boys and girls.

One company in Virginia at the forefront of the technology will soon be offering this service to a wider public. Early Show Medical Correspondent Dr. Emily Senay reports.

Scott and Monique Collins were among the first parents to scientifically select a female child: 6-year-old daughter Jessica.

“After having two boys, I thought they needed a sister, too. Probably more so for me. I wanted to have a daughter. It was just real important that I had a daughter,” says Monique Collins.

“I wanted to have someone to play Barbies with and to go shopping with; I wanted the little girl with long hair and pink and doing fingernails,” she adds.

Doctors at the Genetics and IVF Institute in Fairfax, Va., have developed the technology to select the gender of a child before conception by sorting and separating male and female sperm.

“We are currently achieving 90 percent success for girls and about 70 to 75 percent success for boys,” explains Genetics and IVF Institute medical director Dr. Keith Blauer.

So far, more than 300 babies have been born using this technique. Dr. Blauer says couples must be screened before the technique is offered.

“Currently, we have two indications approved. The first would be for prevention of genetic disease such an x-linked disorder like hemophilia. The second is for family balancing, where the couple is married, and they would like a child of the less-represented gender. For instance, if they have three boys, we would help them have a girl or vice versa,” Dr. Blauer says.

For Debbie and Marcel, the technique was a matter of life and death. They were selected to avoid a devastating genetic form of muscular dystrophy that only passes from mothers to sons.

“I had a brother that was affected with the disease. As a child, living through watching someone suffer from the disease, I didn't want to put another child through that suffering,” says Debbie.

Lizette and Andy Frielingsdorf jumped at the chance to select their baby daughter Jessica.

“A little girl to me is so sweet -- and daddy's little girl -- and you do different things with girls than you do with boys and I wanted to experience both,” says Andy Frielingsdorf.

“We did just want another healthy baby. That was the bottom line. But if it could be a healthy girl, why couldn't we have that, too?” asks Lizette Frielingsdorf.

“She's really, really fun, and I like to make her laugh,” says Jordan about his sister, Jessica.

“We don't know if we're done; we still talk about having that fifth -- maybe a little sister for our daughter,” says Lizette Frielingsdorf. "It would be nice to get that little sister for her."

To qualify for family balancing, you have to have at least one child of the opposite sex from the one you want. The Genetics and IVF Institute also wants parents to understand that there are no guarantees with the procedure. You have to be prepared to get the opposite gender from the one you want.

The cost is about $2,500. But it can get more expensive if in vitro fertilization techniques are required in addition.

Another method of gender selection is pre-implantation genetic diagnosis in which embryos are screened for gender selection after they have been conceived. It is commonly used to screen for genetic diseases. Most experts view fertilizing multiple embryos as an unacceptable way to choose gender.

Some of the ethical considerations of gender selection include gender discrimination, and many question the idea because they feel it might open up a Pandora's box of selecting traits like intelligence or race.

© MMII, CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved.



_____________________________________________

I'm doing a persuasive speech on this topic. I didn't know it was going on in the world. I am still trying to decide how I feel about using the genetic selection process for parents who have the X-Linked Disease traits.

However, for parents who just want to have a boy or girl...this is tampering with God.

Your thoughts...?

[adduncan]

Ya know--
There's a few of us out here who would thank God forever if we could conceive a healthy child and have a healthy pregnancy.

"Hey, I already have two children and I'm going to be picky about the third."

In addition to playing God, it's like Elizabeth Taylor complaining to a spinster that no one makes a drip-dry wedding dress.

Adrienne (PNAM-2003)

[SilverTurtle]

Sorry to crash the DST forum

As for people wanting a little girl to dress up or a little boy for little league..

My mom always says how she waiting 7 years for a little girl (for some of those very reasons). While she did dress me in frilly dresses a lot as a baby, I couldn't have been more of a tom boy. So just because I came out a girl, doesn't mean she got to play Barbie's with me a whole lot.

[NOWorNEVER]

I agree that people shouldn't try to play God and that you're blessed to be able to conceive a healthy baby.
When I was like 13, I use to want a boy and two girls in that exact order. My friend convinced me that I should have boys before girls so they wouldn't be "soft" and have at least 2 girls so they won't be tomboys and their big brother could protect them. I know that sounds stupid, but I was only 13. IF I ever have children, I'd count it all joy no matter the sex. Life is precious. But after seeing countless acquaintences have kids and volunteering with bratty kids, it would be a miracle if I purposely try to have a baby anytime in the next 10-15 years. I'll stick with dogs. They're easier.

[tunatartare]

Sorry to crash your thread but this is a very interesting topic and it's something that we used to talk about a lot in class: I think that is is playing G-D and I personally would never do something like that. Parents are supposed to teach their children unconditional love and say that they'll love them no matter what. While we all know that this isn't always true, it is the general foundation for a family. By selecting a baby's gender before it's birth, it's almost like saying that parents will only love a baby, or will love it a lot more if it's born to be either one gender which limits unconditional love.

[delph998]

So how do you all feel about doing this for parents who have X-Linked Disease traits? Should they/should they not?

[REIKI]

I think it is really sad we are peddling babies as products... that is essentially what it is.... paper or plastic? boy or girl? It is just too far in my opinion. Pretty soon babies will have UPC codes and come with receipts that have 5 year "return policy" .

[RedefinedDiva]

I don't really see a problem with it. I don't really see it as "playing God." I just see it as people having a choice of what they want. Most people love whatever they get, may it be a boy or girl, but some people have preferences. I would rather a person be able to select the gender of their child than to let a child somehow feel neglected and/or inadequate because their parent(s) are slighting them. Believe me, it happens.

[allsmiles_22]

Originally posted by RedefinedDiva
I don't really see a problem with it. I don't really see it as "playing God." I just see it as people having a choice of what they want. Most people love whatever they get, may it be a boy or girl, but some people have preferences.

I'd do it in a minute. My girls and I joke about switching babies because they want boys while I want girls. I really didn't know people had the option.

[delph998]

Originally posted by allsmiles_22
I'd do it in a minute. My girls and I joke about switching babies because they want boys while I want girls. I really didn't know people had the option.

There have been some studies that show that some people who do this are disappointed when their children act the OPPOSITE of the sex they are (ie. female that's a tomboy). Does that change your mind on if you would do it or not?

[RedefinedDiva]

Originally posted by delph998
There have been some studies that show that some people who do this are disappointed when their children act the OPPOSITE of the sex they are (ie. female that's a tomboy). Does that change your mind on if you would do it or not?

Well, what are the odds? I mean, it's all a game of chance, so to speak. One may get a girl that is a tomboy, just like they may get a boy that may be "feminine." Then again, maybe not. To some people, that's worth the risk. Some people just want a particular gender in their physical sense. Like, I know some women may want a girl to dress up and do their hair, but some women just want a girl for the sake of saying they have a daughter. Feel me?

I, personally, don't think that I would do it unless I discover that I, or my future husband (whomever he may be), has some sort of defect in the genes. I have always said that I want to have boys first so that my daughter(s) can have older brothers (because I wish I had one), but I will be happy with whichever God gives me.

[REIKI]

That is the drawback. Say you have a baby made to order then you don't like it. Or, you treat it differently than its brothers and sisters because he/she is "special"... more perfect because of having been genetically altered. That is just plain wrong.

There is a special on CBS about a family that had a genetically altered baby (a baby with the exact blood and tissue types as their other sick child) so that they could use blood and tissue samples of that (full-term) child to help cure their sick child who has a very rare genetic disease. I don't see a problem with something like, because it is a life and death situation, the baby is being brought to term, and will be "extra special" for the right reason, not because of something as discriminatory as sex. I just think it is plain unethical to disciminate against people based on sex before they are even born.

[allsmiles_22]

Originally posted by delph998
There have been some studies that show that some people who do this are disappointed when their children act the OPPOSITE of the sex they are (ie. female that's a tomboy). Does that change your mind on if you would do it or not?

Probably not because the same thing can happen if I didn't pick the sex. It didn't sound as if this procedure was out to change the mental of the sex, but to allow people to choose the sex. I have no problems with having and loving a boy, but I don't want to end up with 3 while hoping for a girl each time. I'd do the same thing if I ended up with 3 girls while my husband wanted a boy. So, why not just cut the extra and get what I want.

[allsmiles_22]

Originally posted by REIKI
That is the drawback. Say you have a baby made to order then you don't like it. Or, you treat it differently than its brothers and sisters because he/she is "special"... more perfect because of having been genetically altered. That is just plain wrong.

Doesn't the same thing happen now with people who didn't do the "special order"? There are families that honor the boys and shun the girls or adore the first and disregard the middle child.

I think the "unethical" part lies on the parents. It's not the doctor's fault the parents have ulterior motives with this procedure. Poor parenting is the problem if they think they’ve created Superman and love him more than their other kids. Just because some parents take things in a different direction doesn't mean everyone shouldn't have the option.

Overall, we cannot create the perfect baby. No matter how much we alter genetically, God will have the final say so starting from whether or not conception will happen, the baby will make it full term and whether or not it will be susceptible to other diseases in the future.

[RedefinedDiva]

Originally posted by allsmiles_22
Doesn't the same thing happen now with people who didn't do the "special order"? There are families that honor the boys and shun the girls or adore the first and disregard the middle child.

I think the "unethical" part lies on the parents. It's not the doctor's fault the parents have ulterior motives with this procedure. Poor parenting is the problem if they think they’ve created Superman and love him more than their other kids. Just because some parents take things in a different direction doesn't mean everyone shouldn't have the option.

Thanks all_smiles. That's basically what I was saying. Some people show preferences with their children. That's just a fact. If a family has five boys and a girl comes along, that girl will get some sort of preferential treatment and vice versa. That all lies on the parents. Doctors just do their job. Like you said, God has the overall say-so. Ethics lie with the parents.