Chloe: Critic Girl/Renaissance Woman

The Independent is carrying a story about British scientists demanding that the UK lift its ban on sex selection in test tube babies.

Now, I wasn’t a test tube baby, but in the interest of a slippery slope argument, if I had been one, I wouldn’t be born. For the first two years of my life, I was dressed in blue. My mother laments the gorgeous pink dresses that were bought for me and remained in boxes with tags on. Until, as I said, I turned two. It wasn’t the terrible twos that made my father realize that having a little girl wasn’t so bad, however. My brother was born.

So, having made my full disclosure about fear of never having been born, I can’t say that I know how this development makes me feel. I have a vague idea of the order in which I’d like to have my children (I always wanted an older brother and often treat my younger ones like older ones). I am also not entirely unconvinced that I would try old-fashion rhythm method style gender selection techniques.

But IVF is so final. You have embryos and they will become boys or girls and you pick this one or that one. On its face, this doesn’t seem all that detrimental. But that, I believe, is the privileged view of a citizen of the Western world. This could be the spark needed to end Chinese females for all time (or until China realizes that sons will be no longer without mothers to bear them). Genetic testing on these embryos could lead to the sort of genetic engineering that has crippled critics with fear since WWII.

Maybe my suspicions are vague hysteria, but I do believe that with every step towards new technology, the ethics of both the proposed technology and the “next steps” if you will must be critically examined. Ultimately, we must ask: What social benefit does choosing the sex of your IVF embryo serve? I can’t see that it serves a necessary function other than giving couples their dream baby. The risks and floodgates opened may not be worth allowing Jane and Dick to choose their Bobby or Susie.

science,
genetics,
technology