Sex Selection by Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) for Nonmedical Reasons in Contemporary Israeli Regulations

2008 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 293-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
RICHARD V. GRAZI ◽  
JOEL B. WOLOWELSKY ◽  
DAVID J. KRIEGER

We report here on recent developments in Israel on the issue of sex selection for nonmedical reasons by preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). Sex selection for medical reasons (such as in cases of sex-linked genetic diseases) is generally viewed as uncontroversial and legal in European and American law. Its use for nonmedical reasons (like “balancing” the gender ratio in a family) is generally illegal in European countries. In the United States, it is not illegal, although in the opinion of the Ethics Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), it is problematic. This position is undergoing reconsideration, albeit in a limited way.

2014 ◽  
Vol 155 (46) ◽  
pp. 1815-1819
Author(s):  
Máté Julesz

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.


Daedalus ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 141 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-100
Author(s):  
Linda K. Kerber

The old law of domestic relations and the system known as coverture have shaped marriage practices in the United States and have limited women's membership in the constitutional community. This system of law predates the Revolution, but it lingers in U.S. legal tradition even today. After describing coverture and the old law of domestic relations, this essay considers how the received narrative of women's place in U.S. history often obscures the story of women's and men's efforts to overthrow this oppressive regime, and also the story of the continuing efforts of men and some women to stabilize and protect it. The essay also questions the paradoxes built into American law: for example, how do we reconcile the strictures of coverture with the founders' care in defining rights-holders as “persons” rather than “men”? Citing a number of court cases from the early days of the republic to the present, the essay describes the 1960s and 1970s shift in legal interpretation of women's rights and obligations. However, recent developments – in abortion laws, for example – invite inquiry as to how full the change is that we have accomplished. The history of coverture and the way it affects legal, political, and cultural practice today is another American narrative that needs to be better understood.


2005 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 255-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Mackie Ogilvie ◽  
Peter R. Braude ◽  
Paul N. Scriven

Since the early 1990s, preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) has been expanding in scope and applications. Selection of female embryos to avoid X-linked disease was carried out first by polymerase chain reaction, then by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), and an ever-increasing number of tests for monogenic diseases have been developed. Couples with chromosome rearrangements such as Robertsonian and reciprocal translocations form a large referral group for most PGD centers and present a special challenge, due to the large number of genetically unbalanced embryos generated by meiotic segregation. Early protocols used blastomeres biopsied from cleavage-stage embryos; testing of first and second polar bodies is now a routine alternative, and blastocyst biopsy can also be used. More recently, the technology has been harnessed to provide PGD-AS, or aneuploidy screening. FISH probes specific for chromosomes commonly found to be aneuploid in early pregnancy loss are used to test blastomeres for aneuploidy, with the aim of replacing euploid embryos and increasing pregnancy rates in groups of women who have poor IVF success rates. More recent application of PGD to areas such as HLA typing and social sex selection have stoked public controversy and concern, while provoking interesting ethical debates and keeping PGD firmly in the public eye.


2009 ◽  
Vol 92 (5) ◽  
pp. 1544-1556 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Gutiérrez-Mateo ◽  
Jorge F. Sánchez-García ◽  
Jill Fischer ◽  
Sophia Tormasi ◽  
Jacques Cohen ◽  
...  

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document