Sex Selection Should Be Permitted for Family Balancing

According to Article 14 of the Oviedo Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine of the Council of Europe, the use of techniques of medically assisted procreation shall not be allowed for the purpose of choosing a future child’s sex, unless serious hereditary sex-related disease is to be avoided. In Israel and the United States of America, pre-conceptual sex selection for the purpose of family balancing is legal. The European health culture does not take reproductive justice for part of social justice. From this aspect, the situation is very similar in China and India. Reproductive liberty is opposed by the Catholic Church, too. According to the Catholic Church, medical grounds may not justify pre-conceptual sex selection, though being bioethically less harmful than family balancing for social reasons. In Hungary, according to Section 170 of the Criminal Code, pre-conceptual sex selection for the purpose of family balancing constitutes a crime. At present, the Hungarian legislation is in full harmony with the Oviedo Convention, enacted in Hungary in 2002 (Act No. 6 of 2002). Orv. Hetil., 2014, 155(46), 1815–1819.

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Engendering Harm: A Critique of Sex Selection For “Family Balancing”

Journal of Bioethical Inquiry ◽

10.1007/s11673-017-9835-4 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 123-137 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Arianne Shahvisi

Keyword(s):

Sex Selection ◽

Family Balancing ◽

Selection For

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Sex-selective Abortion Bans: Anti-immigrant or Anti-abortion?

10.31228/osf.io/6aquw ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Sital Kalantry

Keyword(s):

Asian Americans ◽

Gender Stereotypes ◽

The United States ◽

Sex Selection ◽

Asian Immigrants ◽

Small Subset ◽

International Affairs ◽

Selective Abortion ◽

Family Balancing ◽

Sex Selective Abortion

In the last five years, over half of the state legislatures in the United States have considered banning sex-selective abortion because of the (false) belief that Asian Americans are disproportionately giving birth to more boys than are European Americans. Supported by the data that applies to a very small subset of Asian Americans, proponents of the law stereotype Asian Americans by assuming that their birthing patterns are the same as those of people in India and China.Because of the undue focus on Asian immigrants in the discussions of sex selection bans, the real conversation that should occur in the American democratic system is short-circuited. States legislators and voters fail to discuss whether or not sex selection is a gateway to eugenics concerns, whether or not sex selection perpetuates gender stereotypes, and whether or not sex selection should be used for family balancing. Any bans on sex-selective abortion should take these issues into account and should not be based on misinformed views about the practices of Asian immigrants in the United States.Published: Sital Kalantry, "Sex-Selective Abortion Bans: Anti-Immigration or Anti-Abortion?", 16 Georgetown Journal of International Affairs (2015)

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Sex Selection Should Be Permitted for Family Balancing

10.1017/9781108986373.062 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 158-159

Author(s):

Shirley Eve Levitan

Keyword(s):

Sex Selection ◽

Family Balancing

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“Family Balancing”

Designing Babies ◽

10.1093/med/9780190054472.003.0007 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 108-122

Author(s):

Robert L. Klitzman

Keyword(s):

Positive Selection ◽

Ethics Committees ◽

Sex Selection ◽

Slippery Slope ◽

Embryo Selection ◽

Best Interests ◽

Free Standing ◽

Family Balancing ◽

Blue Eyes ◽

Near Future

Doctors and patients confront decisions of whether to perform “positive selection”—to choose embryos for various socially desired characteristics—most commonly sex but also deafness and dwarfism. Physicians routinely screen embryos for sex not only to prevent the transmission of serious sex-associated diseases (e.g., autism) but also for “family balancing”—though differing widely in how they define this concept. University-affiliated clinics tend to consult formal external ethics committees about these issues, while free-standing private clinics do not. While many countries explicitly prohibit social sex selection, US providers regularly perform it, raising concerns about a possible “slippery slope” toward eugenics. In the near future, screening for genes associated with other non-medical “desired traits” such as blond hair and blue eyes will probably also be developed and requested. Providers and patients wrestle with whether certain types of embryo selection might restrict a child’s “open future” and ability to make key choices for him- or herself, as well as how to uphold the child’s best interests.

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