Oral Presentation

Week 1, Term 4, 2015

"Rights and Responsibilities"

By Casey Boswell
Gender Selection
(Introduction)
Our technology has advanced so much these days, and it
will only get more incredible. Curiosity is a powerful aspect
of human nature, it is what drives us to discover ways of the
world that would have been thought impossible in the past.
What comes out of it? Knowledge. Knowledge is power and
control. If we discovered intelligence on how to control the
weather, would we take it? Most definitely. For with control
on the weather, we have the power to nurture our crops,
prevent natural disasters and adjust it to fulfil the needs of
our world.
So what if you had the power to choose the gender of your
unborn child? Due to modern medical advances, this query
is now reality.
(Body Number 1)
Theories of gender selection have been discovered from the
1980s and are being put into increasing action today.
The most reliable and modern method of gender selection
is called in-vitro fertilisation, with close to 100% accuracy.
Where embryos are being produced in a lab. (Which are
fertilised eggs.)
Then there is the process of Preimplantation Genetic
Diagnosis or Preimplantation Genetic Screening where
these embryos are tested to determine whether they are
male or female.
Only one embryo of the desired gender is then planted into
the uterus of the mother.
Gender selection is being used for medical and elective
reasons.
Elective, by parents who might have 7 boys and desperately
wants a daughter, or parents who simply want to choose
what gender their children will be.
For medical reasons, such as preventing sex-linked
diseases. Where a genetic disease could be inherited by the
mother and only male ospring are aected. Therefore the
parents who carry the disease might want to reduce the risk
by having only female ospring.
So there are advantages to be able to control the gender of a
child. But the question is, should it be allowed for
widespread elective use?.
(Body Number 2)
For a very, very long time, people have desired to choose the
gender of their children. Over history we have developed
ways of getting what we want.
For example, with the one child policy in China, parents
could only have either a daughter or son.
Many parents in China hope for nature to gift them with a
boy to satisfy the needs a son could give.
Unfortunately, some are so keen on having a son, that upon
discovering the child is a girl, the baby will be eliminated so

the parents can try again for a boy. This is sex selective
abortion, miscarriage, abandonment and even murder. It is
infanticide, and it is illegal - not to mention completely
immoral.
In the early 1980s, there were 108 male births to every 100
female births in China, only slightly above the natural rate.
By 2000, it had soared to 120 males, and in some particular
areas there were more than 130! The result is over 35 million
females are missing from the balance. Which makes it, well,
unbalanced.
Fortunately, these statistics are much more even today., but
the consequences of these forced gender selections are not
good. The unbalance of genders could make millions of men
in China destined to live without a female partner. It is
believed this could then lead to increased sexual violence,
general crime and social instability.
(Body Number 3)
By the forces of nature, the human sex ratio is
approximately 1:1. But if it were by the choice of people, the
result would be unpredictable and risky. Many polls online
show that a higher percentage of parents would choose a
boy if they could only have one child.
So if elective gender selection was open to mankind, would
there be an imbalance? It is possible.
And if that does happen, this newfound area of choice could
easily turn into less freedom then before. Think about it,
the government will be forced to control whether new
parents have either son or daughter in an attempt to even
the gender ratio.
Gender selection is currently illegal in 36 countries already,
including Australia.
The Guidelines prohibiting sex selection, as established by
the National Health and Medicinal Research Council in
Australia, state:
Sex selection is an ethically controversial issue. The
Australian Heath Ethics Committee believes that admission
to life should not be conditional upon a child being a
particular sex. Therefore, pending further community
discussion, sex selection (by whatever means) must not be
undertaken except to reduce the risk of transmission of a
serious genetic condition.
(Conclusion)
So, just because we have the power to choose the gender of
an unborn child, doesnt mean we have to act on it.
Even modern methods of sex selection have faults. Five to
ten embryos could be created in a lab. Each a living bundle
of cells, waiting to grow into a body and join the world. And
not all of them will be able to continue that path because
their genetics do not suit the desires that are wanted.
Nature works the way it does for a reason. There are some
things that mankind should not control.
From the Australian National Health and Medicinal
Research Council, Doctor Sandra Hacker had said:
"The right to the passage into life shouldn't be dependant
on whether you are male or female."