“For years, reproductive specialists have been helping people become parents, even enabling them to choose the sex of their baby. One fertility doctor is taking things a step further, offering what some are calling ‘designer babies,’ as Early Show national correspondent Hattie Kauffman reports” (CBS News). Though designer babies are not yet feasible, choosing the gender of the baby is. This is possible through in-vitro fertilization, a process in which an egg is retrieved from a mother and sperm is donated by a father, then combined together in a lab to make a fertilized egg. During this process, it is possible for the parents to allow the egg to go through Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis. PGD is when embryologists remove a cell from the …show more content…
This proves that natural labor is much less hazardous than implantation. This alone should make gender selection seem like a ridiculous idea. The risks are simply not worth the result of whether caring for a baby boy or girl. Opposers argue, “Knowing the gender of an embryo prior to implantation can be helpful especially if a parent carries an X-linked disorder, which means the disease in question is carried on the X (sex) chromosome. A child receives 23 chromosomes from the mother, and 23 from the father, however, the father is always responsible for the gender of the child. The mother contributes an X sex chromosome to her child, and male sperm either contains an X or a Y chromosome. If a sperm containing a Y chromosome fertilizes an egg, the gender will be male (XY). If a sperm carrying an X chromosome fertilizes an egg, the gender will be female (XX). If the mother is a carrier of an X-linked disorder and becomes pregnant with a boy, there is a 50% chance he will be affected since he only has one X chromosome inherited from his mother. In contrast, if a man carries an X-linked dominant disorder 100% of his daughters will have the disease. These gender-based genetic inheritance patterns make gender selection of embryos not only useful, but potentially life-changing, since the disease rates in certain genders can be so high. In these cases, rather than testing for the actual disorder, embryos can be selected based on gender to reduce
In the article by Singularity Hub, he talks about the very first company that has decided to begin the very first company by letting couples create their own babies. Not just their gender, but many more like there eye color, skin color, how tall they will be, and so much more. Once this company released that they were going to do this, couples all over the globe came and paid their lifes savings to just design their baby. The very first thing they did with these designer babies is they created the gender of the baby. That was their first step, now they want to screen their embryos so they can create eye color, hair color, and complexion. In many countries letting couples design their own babies is way out of the question. In the United States
They used the process of PGD to conceive the gender they desired. Straightaway, this was the first time that PGD was used to fulfill the parent’s desire and not a specific medical condition. This family’s decision ended up in Times Magazine’s in 1999. Although they were only know for their choice of gender, that’s when all the controversy began about other traits such as eye color, hair color, and height which is not technically related to the health of the
During IVF, the egg is typically fertilized in a lab before being implanted into the uterus. Before transferring the embryo into the uterus, some fertility clinics offer patients the option of choosing what sex embryo they want. Although IVF is more commonly used for families struggling with infertility rather than for the sole purpose of sex selection, sex selection is still an option. This seems both futuristic and controversial but Codington-Lacerte argues that prenatal sex selection methods allow parents to make informed choices about the makeup of their families (Codington-Lacerte, “Point: Sex Selection”). This type of eugenics is seemingly harmless because in choosing a sex for their child, parents aren’t really damaging society.
(Thadani 2). The process of “Designer babies” involves fertilizing the egg by the sperm in a test tube outside the mother’s womb, and altering the genes. This procedure is also called Pre- implantation Genetic Diagnosis, known as (PGD). It is noble to eradicate disorders and diseases. Some people use the process for non- health reasons. When the screening is opened up to non-related health, 72 percent disapprove of the procedure, (“Introduction to Designer Babies: At Issue.”). According to a June 2006 paper published by Kathy L. Hudson of the Genetics and Public Policy Center, many people wanted to enforce a line between acceptable and unacceptable uses for PGD. (Hudson 1). By 2009, the Fertility Institutes in Los Angeles were letting parents select their children’s hair and eye color. The procedure brought over 4 billion dollars a year to the clinics. Clinics were focused on the money and no the important things, like the patients. They did not have the best interest in their patients, as much as they did in the money. (“Introduction to Designer Babies: At Issue.”). The public had a very negative view about using PGD for personal traits. (“Introduction to Designer Babies: At Issue.”). The clinic changed their policy after the outbreak of the public. (“Introduction to Designer Babies: At Issue.”). Also the procedure is very risky. The procedure involves some risks to the embryo, and some parents with no personal history of disease or disability. (Briggs 2). If the process is not done correctly and carefully, the embryo may have a chance of being terminated. (The Ethics of “Designer Babies”). The procedure also causes a chance of mutation. (“Preface to ‘Genetic of Enhancement of Human Abilities’”.). The technology
40 and older only an average of 15% successful rate. When putting the mother in danger many effects can go through their mind as trying to conceive again can be questioned where all the money sent is at lost and now have to restart the process. Age plays a huge factor when going through the cycles. It is often that after so many years trying to naturally conceive, many people have given up and gone for the IVF treatment. IVF treatment takes several cycles as well as the years have. Couples have probably gotten up to 6 cycles, whereas every appointment can take up to half a year or more. Studies have shown that patients who were at least 40 years and older, their corresponding live birth rate decreased to about 42% and 23% (Williams, Singer,
Being able to choose the gender of a baby will give the couple more time to prepare for the baby’s arrival because if the gender is known well in advance there's more time to get everything ready. I also believe that it is good for parents to be happy with the child being the gender they desire because the child will more likely fit into the family’s dreams. I don’t see why a couple should be deprived of an option that will increase their happiness and the well-being of their child. PGD can help subside the use of illegal means of gender selection. In some countries selection already happens, usually by selective abortion or abandonment of unwanted babies. This is a terrible waste of life and is very dangerous to the mother. The use of new technologies to allow gender selection at the beginning of pregnancy will hopefully reduce selective
Although PGD is a relatively new procedure, there are several ethical questions surrounding its use. One question is, "Should parents be allowed to choose characteristics for their children that are not related to disorders such as their baby’s eye color, personality, or even the sex of their baby?" [Wekesser,1996]. Until the genes responsible for inherited traits such as the previously mentioned are mapped, this is not an issue. If scientists do not know where the gene is located, they are unable to create a test determining the presence of the gene. However, because we do know how the sex of a child is determined, a specific gender can be screened for. Many believe that this should
In today’s technology parents are able to know the gender of their child before giving birth. However advanced technology is now available for parents to be able to choose the child’s gender before even being implanted in the mother’s womb. Prenatal sex selection is considered one of the major controversial and unethical practices in today’s society. Others favor gender selection because it can be used for preventing genetic disorders and family balancing. Some argued that choosing the gender of your child interferes with nature and natural selection process, it is high in cost, and can cause gender discrimination and bias favoring a specific gender over the other. Even though gender selection can have good benefits for the parents
In vitro fertilisation (IVF) marks a great step forward in medical technology, and Australia is a leader in the field. IVF is now a popular procedure for couples who are infertile or are having trouble conceiving. However, it raises ethical, moral and legal issues including the rights of an individual, property rights, the definition of human life, scientific experimentation versus a potential human life, religion, costs, and community, medical and taxpayer’s rights.
Discuss why preconception genetic screening is important for any couple who is thinking about getting pregnant (even if they don’t
In the end, this can all be avoided by the simple decision to be able to choose the baby’s gender.
It is assumed by most that we will all be able to grow up, fall in love, get married, and then have children of our own. This is not the lifestyle that all people choose, but it is still the view accepted by the majority of society. What happens when the unthinkable occurs and a happily married couple is unable to get pregnant? This is a reality for 7.1%, or 2.8 million, of the married couples in the United States (Lenox, 1999). Today, there are many people all over the world that decide to use fertility treatments to help them conceive a child, and this often leads to the birth of twins, triplets, or even higher order multiples. There are many risk factors that are involved in this type of
Reproduction is a fundamental right given to everybody. Unfortunately, there are some of us no reproductive capabilities. In today’s world advances in reproductive techniques such as invitro fertilization, egg or sperm donation and gestational surrogacy have sparked new interests to women who do not have the ability to reproduce on their own. Legal, moral and ethical issues have been raised about these advanced methods of reprodution used to substitute natural conception and birth. These advanced techniques raise issues concerning the rights and parenthood. What does occur in the process of sperm donation? What happens when a surrogate mother refuses to give the child? What are the motives of the surrogate mother and why seeking parents
Genetic engineering, human embryos should continue because the new technology has led to being able to take out single celled diseases in embryos. Granted, some scientists believe it should not continue because people in the world have already attempted abuse this technology by trying to pick their child’s gender (Zitner); Nevertheless, being able to identify gender is crucial to certain disease identification(Zitner). As a matter of fact gender specific diseases do exist, and therefore the technology needed to know the gender is necessary. If the gender is unknown scientists would be wasting valuable time looking for diseases that may not even exist. In addition an experiment done on embryos, led scientists to conclude “By weeding out male
Have you ever heard of an “in vitro fertilization (IVF)”? Well, the term “in vitro” is Latin for “in glass” .With IVF treatment, the egg is fertilized with sperm in a petri dish. Typically, many eggs are retrieved from the biological mother (who may or may not be the intended parent), as not every egg will fertilize, and not every fertilized egg will become a viable embryo. A few days after fertilization, the best embryo or embryos are transferred to the mothers or surrogate’s uterus via a catheter through cervix. Any extra embryos may be cryopreserved (cooling them below the freezing point of water) for future cycles. This method was pioneered by Robert G. Edwards, a retired Professor of Human Reproduction at Cambridge University, was heralded as the Creator of Modern Reproductive Medicine. He paired with Patrick Steptoe, a practicing Gynecologist at Oldam General Hospital who pioneered the use of laparoscopy (a surgical procedure in which a fiber-optic instrument is inserted through the abdominal wall to view the organs in the abdomen or to permit a surgical procedure) in gynecology. Their collaboration started in 1968 when Edwards attended a lecture that Steptoe gave on laparoscopy at the Royal Society of Medicine in London. Both achieved gracefully in fertilization and cell division of eggs in vitro in a petri dish with freshly extracted semen, but were unable to successfully implant the fertilized egg into the female uterus until 1978. They manipulated hormone levels in