A recent survey has revealed Australians disapprove of IVF sex selection but would prefer a “balanced” family with one girl and one boy.
The study, led by Dr Rebecca Kippen from the School of Population Health at the University of Melbourne, found that 69 percent of respondents disapproved of the use of IVF for sex selection and 80 percent were against sex-selective abortions.
More than 2500 people participating in the Australian Survey of Social Attitudes, were quizzed on the topic and only 11 percent supported the idea of a hypothetical gender selection pill.
Dr Kippen said people involved in the study were against sex selection for a number of reasons and were concerned about the concept of “designer infants”.
“Opposition to these technologies was grounded in three major concerns: the potential for distorted sex ratios; that sex selection can be an expression of gender bias; and a concern about ‘designer infants’ being created, when parents should be happy with a healthy baby,” Dr Kippen said.
Previous behavioural and attitudinal research found that Australian parents want a balanced family, of one boy and one girl.
The research was published in Fertility and Sterility in December last year.
This year the National Health and Medical Research Council is due to review the ban on sex selection, which was established in 2004, and has called for community discussion of issues surrounding sex selection.
The current guidelines surrounding the ban state that “sex selection (by whatever means) must not be undertaken except to reduce the risk of transmission of a serious genetic condition”.
Your say: What do you think about sex selection? Do you agree with the study results?
