Saturday 29 May 2010

Babies 'r' us

Revision is boring me. That explains why I have time to keep writing this despite the fact I really should be working, ah well.

Anyway, I saw on 'Scrubbing Up' on BBC this week they were talking about sex selection in children and whether it should be allowed in the UK (it's currently illegal unless its done to avoid sex-linked disease). In some other countries its legal so long as you have the cash to pay for it and is basically an extension of the ability to be able to ensure your child isn't born with major inherited illnesses.


I'm not sure where I stand on this, but I'd probably hedge towards allowing it within the private sector. I know there is the argument that children shouldn't be regarded as goods which you can customise to suit your needs but I think that if it is possible to shape in a small way a positive thing in your life then perhaps people should be allowed that option. Most people wouldn't take the option to choose the sex, but some families may have reasons why they would prefer to have a girl or a boy, perhaps to balance a family which already has 3 children of one sex?

What I'm most worried about though, the thing that stops me from fully putting support behind changing the law, is the fact that like most steps we take you have to be careful about what will come next. People need to have a proper debate about it otherwise, the second we let this through, there will be pressure to allow more and more choices to be made about the baby before birth, and that could be a dangerous road to go down.

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