Preimplantation Gender Selection Essay

According to “Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis: Ethical or not?” Janet Malek, a bioethicist at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, states in quote “... people who carry a gene like GSS have a moral duty to use preimplantation diagnosis -- if they can afford it -- to spare the next generation.” end quote. Going by what she says and the high price of about $20,000, which means if you aren't extremely wealthy you won’t be able to afford this, so most of the population wouldn’t be able to afford this service. Which means it is only accessible to a select few, therefore making it less effective. Another and the final problem with this system is brought to light by David Wasserman, a ethicist at Yeshiva University and consultant, said in quote “there is no obligation to use it for diseases that do not start until adulthood. Eliminating embryos with such genes is essentially saying someone like Ms. Kalinsky should never have been born.” end quote. As true and controversial as Wasserman stated he speaks the truth. Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis should be reserved for either heavily crippling or life threatening diseases. Reasoning is if an adult contracts a disease such as GSS and then does have money to pay for a Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis procidure then should be allowed to get the operation, but for people who want to ensure the sex of their kid should find something else to spend their money

People have the right to genetically engineer their children so it should not be banned. Jeffrey Kahn, a bioethicist, says that parents will someday test genes to give their children preferable traits like intelligence,strong immune systems, and string muscles. These are desirable by many people, so its wrong to ban these tests. Many people want a child of a specific gender as well. In fact, gender clinics say that more than 90% of couples after gender selection already have three or more children all of the same gender and want at least one of the opposite gender. Is it wrong for couples to want a child of a specific gender? Also, children with certain blood diseases like anemia need blood transfusion extremely often. the parents can eliminate these diseases in their next child and match the tissues so they can transplant the healthy child’s stem cells

By allowing this process to be done to a child, the parents are taking a risk, relying on the fact that this procedure will be successful. Furthermore, the multiple steps necessary to complete the process is putting a lot of faith in the doctor’s hands instead of faith in the creator that designed the child. Couples must determine where they will put their trust before allowing scientist to make

Ackerman, she also shared her concerns for making this process available for everyone. She believes if designer babies are to be normalized, some institute would need to regulate the process, otherwise it could pose to be a very big issue (D. Ackerman, phone interview, April 13, 2017). Another highly controversial problem is the embryo (baby) does not have a choice in the matter of what is happening. (The main question to ask anyone here is, is it right to manipulate and change an embryo, and their DNA when they can not even give consent to the operation (Loria, 2015, para.11)? So, instead of letting nature run its course of what the gender is suppose is to be compared to manipulating the genes. Furthermore, another ethical dilemma that could potentially arise from manipulating genes is the loss of individuality of the eventual baby. Since a parent is changing their child, one could think “what could my baby have been like” (Hanson, n.d., para.6).

So. Why is gender important? The simplest answer is because it's there. "Gender," meaning the differentiation, usually on the basis of sex, between social roles and functions labeled as "masculine" and "feminine," is universal: all societies known to us in all time periods make some sort of gender distinctions. As a central feature of all cultures, gender seems worth some

Changing the nature of nature with genetic engineering and testing. Due to these studies physicians have slowly altered the dynamics of the world. With the help of medical advancements with genetic technology many physicians have been able to create families, but with a certain price. As soon as you mix different embryos with certain sperm to create a “perfect child” it can cause more unwanted side effects. The public see this technology as an easy and simple way to get a perfect child, while it is way much more complicated and dangerous. When designing children with more advanced technology, such as pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), can be dangerous. Such advancements cause deformities or diseases, along with gender imbalances, and social division, therefore, more safety and awareness regulations for the public should be put into place.

Human embryos that could potentially act as a ‘savior sibling’ to their future brother or sister can be chosen by doctors with the use of tissue typing and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). The use of these methods to conceive a child that could benefit a sick sibling is generally justified as long as there is also a benefit for the new child. In this paper, the question that is addressed is whether or not the creation of ‘savior siblings’ is morally right or ethical. The pros and cons are considered along with the strengths and weaknesses of each. The many concerns and arguments that exist against this creation do not represent sufficient grounds to ban the use of these methods to save the life of a sibling or loved one. The general

Doctors should not be allowed to assign gender and perform medically unnecessary surgeries that permanently alter the gender of a child. The decision of assigning gender should be postponed until the child reaches puberty.

It should remain illegal in most cases for genetic manipulation to be used in choosing a baby’s gender.

Do you think this practice of embryo selection could lead down a slippery slope of a couple choosing the specific characteristic they desire in a child?

It is important to first consider why gender definition is so important. Why does it matter if something is masculine or feminine? Sut Jhally in the film Codes of Gender states “Our ability to recognize someone as either

Selecting sex to reduce the risk or prevent the inheritance of a sex-linked genetic disease in predisposed families or for other medical reason is justifiable. Sex linked genetic disorders are diseases that arise when an X or Y chromosome carries on a defective gene to its offspring via germ cells. In the case of X-linked genetic disease, if the mother is a carrier for a certain genetic disorder, then the son has a 50% chance of expressing the genetic disease as the mother’s X chromosome is always passed onto the son (Germain 2006). Genetic diseases like haemophilia, Autism, Fragile X syndrome and Muscular Dystrophy, which all have the potential to significantly change child’s health and lifestyle, can be prevented (Hart 2005). Allowing parents to prevent a certain genetic disease, by choosing the sex of their child, will allow carriers to have children without abolishing the possibility of parenthood or creating doubts about their capabilities of handling a child with a certain disease.

One of the few positives about genetic modifications is that can help remove diseases that are inherited from parents. A parent’s dream is to have a child that is born a hundred percent healthy. But realistically we know that does not happen. Children may be born with illness that carries through from childhood into adulthood. Of course, parent’s do not want to see their children sick or even to see them suffer. The upside of genetic engineering is that it can be the answer to providing a life that is healthy and disease free. Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) allows viable embryos to be screened for various genetic traits, such as sex-linked diseases, before implanting them in the mother. Through PGD, physicians can select embryos that are not predisposed to certain genetic conditions (Ly, 2011). With families knowing that they have particular types of horrid diseases and illnesses, they know that passing them on to their child or children

Pregnancy can be one of the most life-changing and exciting experience a mother could ever have. When a woman is pregnant, one of the most common questions that people will ask is, “Is the baby a boy or a girl?” Parents have the opportunity to find out the sex of the baby beforehand by going through a procedure known as an ultrasound. An ultrasound relies on sound waves to create an image of the baby in the uterus. This safe and painless procedure normally takes place between 18-20 weeks of pregnancy. Thanks to the advancement in our technology, parents have the ability to determine the gender of their offspring. Gender selection is available all around the world but is illegal in certain countries such as China, India, Australia, Canada, and the UK. As a result of the ban on gender selection in these countries, people who wish to go through with this procedure must make a trip to the U.S where it is legal. This raises the question of whether parents should be allowed to choose the sex of their baby as well as the pros and cons associated with this procedure.

Gender Is so important because of what society adds to it- the idea that there are different roles for males and femaes. From a young age we are told that men are supposed to behave one way and women another. In a world where males dominate , it only seems appropriate to talk about a gender that as a person is passionate about, and that is femininity. Femininity is not a word that society encourages us to use these days. Many people would argue that femininity is the thing that keeps a woman obedient to a