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Science finally crossed that bitty thin line it wasn't supposed to cross. Parents now have the ability to buy their baby's gender. Oh dear. Does anyone else have a problem with this???
Here's the science behind what happens. A technique called preimplantation genetic diagnosis is used. Egg and sperm donated by the mother and father are used to create embryos outside the womb. The embryos are then tested for gender, embryos of the specific gender the parents requested (the word 'requested' makes me shudder, oh my) are implanted into the mother through in-vitro fertilization, the embryos of the other gender are disposed of, and voila with almost 100 percent certainty the sex of the baby is guaranteed. Price tag: $18,480. We are literally making babies to order now.
This disturbs me.
Gender selection is a practice currently being used in the US, and around the world, except in the UK where it is banned (except for medical reasons like if for example you have had genetic analysis done and know for sure that you are a carrier of the gene for hemophilia and your husband has the recessive gene for it, meaning that any son you have- since this is a Y-linked disease only males can get- will have hemophilia, then you want to have only daughters because your sons will be born with a debilitating disease... etc). Another thing that disturbs me is the ads being used to promote this new 'tool'. I swear I read one that says "Do you want to choose the gender of your next baby? Money back guaranteed!" WHAT?!?! And what do you do if because of some mess up in the lab you accidentally get implanted with a baby that is not the gender you 'requested', get an abortion? Oops, try again?! What if God forbid you don't notice until the baby is born? Do you hate the child because it is not the gender you wanted it to be?
Designer babies are going to get here sooner than we think and it's really just a matter of time before this whole thing explodes, I wish something could be done to stop it.
Here's the science behind what happens. A technique called preimplantation genetic diagnosis is used. Egg and sperm donated by the mother and father are used to create embryos outside the womb. The embryos are then tested for gender, embryos of the specific gender the parents requested (the word 'requested' makes me shudder, oh my) are implanted into the mother through in-vitro fertilization, the embryos of the other gender are disposed of, and voila with almost 100 percent certainty the sex of the baby is guaranteed. Price tag: $18,480. We are literally making babies to order now.
This disturbs me.
Gender selection is a practice currently being used in the US, and around the world, except in the UK where it is banned (except for medical reasons like if for example you have had genetic analysis done and know for sure that you are a carrier of the gene for hemophilia and your husband has the recessive gene for it, meaning that any son you have- since this is a Y-linked disease only males can get- will have hemophilia, then you want to have only daughters because your sons will be born with a debilitating disease... etc). Another thing that disturbs me is the ads being used to promote this new 'tool'. I swear I read one that says "Do you want to choose the gender of your next baby? Money back guaranteed!" WHAT?!?! And what do you do if because of some mess up in the lab you accidentally get implanted with a baby that is not the gender you 'requested', get an abortion? Oops, try again?! What if God forbid you don't notice until the baby is born? Do you hate the child because it is not the gender you wanted it to be?
Designer babies are going to get here sooner than we think and it's really just a matter of time before this whole thing explodes, I wish something could be done to stop it.
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