Choosing A Child's Sex

[wilko]

It seems that many hosptals in Thailand offer this service....do you think this is OK/ethical?

[jumnien]

Why not?

[wilko]

Well I don't know...I guess the process involves the destruction of eggs or embryos?

[wilko]

I'm also find it slightly disconcerting that cultural influences could bring about an unhealthy imbalance of the sexes,as it has in china.

[jumnien]

Well, we have our second boy on the way and we would have chosen a girl.

I don't think the billion or so folks in China have access to the top hospitals with this technique.

[suegha]

Well I don't know...I guess the process involves the destruction of eggs or embryos?

I'm not certain about this but I have a memory that it involves separating the sperm as it's it's the male that provides the XY Chromosome(sp). I'd need to research it as I did it in college many years ago...

[jumnien]

Who cares if they are destroying fertilized eggs. We do it all the time now in IVF programs all over the world.

[Mossfinn]

Who cares if they are destroying fertilized eggs. We do it all the time now in IVF programs all over the world.

Because we? do it all the time, does that make it right?

Moss

[jumnien]

Who cares if they are destroying fertilized eggs. We do it all the time now in IVF programs all over the world.

Because we? do it all the time, does that make it right?

Moss

Yes!

[wilko]

Well, we have our second boy on the way and we would have chosen a girl.

I don't think the billion or so folks in China have access to the top hospitals with this technique.

the service...and it's really popular and profitable is specifically targeted at wealthy Chinese who come over in droves to receive the treatment.

[Heng]

I think it should be left up to chance and fate... a daughter or son would be just fine. But like a lot of people around here, I can afford to be hypocritical as we already have a son.

[jumnien]

Personally, I wouldn't do it. Superstitious. But after 2 sons I don't see what's wrong with selecting a girl.

[kurgen]

I don't think it's right.What next, ready made babies at Tescos straight off the shelf?

Mrs Kurgen is 6 months gone and we have chosen to wait until the birth to find out the sex, I've got to say though it would make the name choosing 50% easier

[Sheryl]

I'm not sure what you are referring to when you say many clinics in Thailand offer this.

For normal coception, there is no way to determione the sex in advance. It can be determined afterwards by ultrasound but not usually until around the 2nd trimester and not with 100% certainty. In some countries where there are strong biases against having girl children, people abort girl fetuses. This would not be legal under Thailand's abortion laws.

Now if youi are talking about "assisted"reproduction ïn which conception takes place in a petri dish and the embyro implanted in the uterus, I had not heard of it being possible to determine the sex at that very early stage of embryonic development. Maybe it is, but news t ome.

In any case assisted reproduction is extremely expensive and can't imagine anyone going that route who didn't have to.

[Sheryl]

I'm not sure what you are referring to when you say many clinics in Thailand offer this.

For normal conception, there is no way to determione the sex in advance. It can be determined afterwards by ultrasound but not usually until around the 2nd trimester and not with 100% certainty. In some countries where there are strong biases against having girl children, people abort girl fetuses. This would not be legal under Thailand's abortion laws.

Now if you are talking about "assisted"reproduction ïn which conception takes place in a petri dish and the embyro implanted in the uterus, I had not heard of it being possible to determine the sex at that very early stage of embryonic development. Maybe it is, but news to me.

In any case assisted reproduction is extremely expensive and can't imagine anyone going that route who didn't have to.

[wilko]

OK - I'm glad you've pointed this out.... what is this service that is being offered by the hospitals around Pattaya and Bangkok then

?

Initially it seems to be advertised as someone form of treatment for people who want to or can't have babies...however it seems to be used by mainly Chinese or ethnic Chinese.

.......... I understand it's marketed as "sex selection" under infertility treatment and is available in Chonburi province and Bkk.

Edited May 19, 2008 by wilko

[coventry]

Fertility clinics do offer this service in Thailand, when undergoing IVF. My wife and I are going back to BKK soon to go through IVF once again after a successful first attempt. My wife wants another daughter and I go along with this. IVF makes no impact on unbalancing of the worlds population. As for destroying embryos. We had 14 eggs fertilized but there's no way we can support 14 kids. Some sacrifices have to be made and I think dearly of the ones that will not make it but what can you do ? Millions of women discard, naturally, millions of fertilized eggs every month, world wide. Should we try to save them all ? Extra cost for seleting sex about 70,000 Baht.

Edited May 20, 2008 by coventry

[wilko]

Fertility clinics do offer this service in Thailand, when undergoing IVF. My wife and I are going back to BKK soon to go through IVF once again after a successful first attempt. My wife wants another daughter and I go along with this. IVF makes no impact on unbalancing of the worlds population. As for destroying embryos. We had 14 eggs fertilized but there's no way we can support 14 kids. Some sacrifices have to be made and I think dearly of the ones that will not make it but what can you do ? Millions of women discard, naturally, millions of fertilized eggs every month, world wide. Should we try to save them all ? Extra cost for seleting sex about 70,000 Baht.

[/quo

OK - I'm learning here....how do you mantian it has no impact on population balance?

Is it legal?

[coventry]

There's no impact due to the amount of sex selected births being insignificant compared to the worlds birth rate.

Sex selection is legal within the IVF procedure in Thailand.

[wilko]

apparently in China there is quite a dramatic effect...is it legal in Europe and the States?

Edited May 21, 2008 by wilko

[TheJayMan]

I think it is okay for parents to choose if it is done by selecting embrios during IVF, as long as this does not significantly alter the percentages in the general population.

I think that parents should respect natures choice of gender once the baby is born. I think it is wrong for parents to encourage or allow gender reasignment on children.

[wilko]

OK - this seems to be the method....

Doctors can determine a baby's gender in two ways - through genetic testing or sperm sorting.

Genetic testing enables female embryos to be identified before being placed in the womb, so-called preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD).

BBC - Sperm sorting involves separating "male" and "female" sperm, depending on whether they carry male or female chromosomes, then choosing which to use to inseminate a woman or create embryos in the laboratory.

Reason magazine - "Sex selection in India and China is achieved chiefly through ultrasound scans followed by the selective abortion of female fetuses. The natural sex ratio is about 105 boys per 100 girls, but in India it is now 113 boys per 100 girls and as high as 156 boys per 100 girls in some regions.

In China the sex ratio now is just shy of 120 boys per 100 girls. Both China and India now ban the use of abortion for sex selection. Should those of us living in the developed world worry about skewed sex ratios in our own countries? After all, all sorts of nifty new biomedical technologies besides selective abortions are becoming available to make sex selection ever more feasible."

......................... is this a practice that should be encouraged or legislated against do think?

Edited May 21, 2008 by wilko

[zzdocxx]

One of my colleagues told me that after having three girls, someone told him a sure-fire method to choose the gender of their next child.

The idea was that if they wanted a girl, they should be very careful about monitoring the wife's monthly cycle using a chart with her temperatures and so forth, and have intercourse just at the time of ovulation. If they wanted a boy, then they should just do it whenever the urge hit them.

Ever since then, he and his wife haven't been allowed back in the local McDonald's.