The Issue of Gender Selection - Essay Example

Gender Selection Should be Allowed when Adopting Children

According to the U.S. census, an adoption is an important event as, in 2000, approximately 1.6 million children were adopted with the adoption industry generating around 3 billion dollars per year (). Several parties contribute to a successful matching process, including agencies, facilitators, lawyers, parents making adoption decisions, and children placed under foster care. However, parent's preferences over children with a particular race, gender, or attributes play a vital role in several issues like children's investments, fertility treatments, and embryo selections. Despite support for gender selection during adoption because it is important for adopting parents to choose their preferred gender, it should not be allowed as it contributes to gender discrimination, and may encourage preferences over specific characteristics like appearances and intelligence. Furthermore, gender selection in children adoption should not be allowed as it motivates genetic modifications and gender imbalance, as evident in several countries like India and China.

The use of scientific techniques in gender selection was first used in 1970. It involved the use of scientific technologies in two ways; first, in the separation of sperms produce male and female embryos and second, in the creation of embryos of preferred gender. These techniques have been used in sex selection to avoid inheritable diseases like Duchenne’s disease and Hemophilia that are common with a specific gender and in nonmedical selections where parents preferred a boy or a girl. However, scientific sperm separation and embryo implantation techniques raise bioethical concerns when used in nonmedical purposes; therefore, the methods are not universally endorsed. For instance, in 2003, the British government banned using nonmedical scientific methods in sex selection ().

Gender selection promotes genetic modifications due to technological advancements that influence babies' genders. For instance, in 1975, Ronald Ericsson developed the Ericsson scientific method that continues to be applied to several medical clinics today (). In this method, the desired gender is produced from a separation of the male Y chromosome and female X chromosomes from a sample sperm then used for insemination. Another method used in selecting a preferred gender includes flow cytometry. This method applied by MicroSort Company differentiates Y and X chromosomes using fluorescence staining. Due to differences in the genetic makeup of these chromosomes, separation is done on their fluorescence level. Then, the desired gender chromosomes are used for impregnation through artificial insemination.

Moreover, countries like India and China, where preferences for boys, are higher than that of girls, gender determination through ultrasounds promotes abortion when parents realize that the fetus is not of the preferred gender. Despite the government's efforts to regulate gender selection during adoption, the practices have impacted population ratios of men to women while encouraging kidnapping and women trafficking (). Besides, international organizations like the U.N. and India and China's governments address anti-female gender selections as a widespread problem (). While support for gender selection ague that techniques like PGD and MicroSort present parents with the freedom to select their children, problems faced by India and China are a result of gender selection in children's adoption.

Gender selections also encourage gender imbalances and discriminations, especially in societies where cultural preferences for a particular gender is strongly rooted. A.C. Grayling, a philosophy professor at the University of London in his article Sex, carries its correctives argue that; if In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) becomes affordable in counties like China and India that have cultural preferences for specific genders, the problems of gender imbalances will extremely alleviate (). On the other hand, supporters for sex selections assert that the practices provide a less controversial alternative to parents who opt for gender balance in their families and avoid having numerous children. Furthermore, according to Paul Rainsbury, a fertility expert at the BBC forum in 2003, parents who have been married for a long period with children of one gender are more likely to go for gender selections to balance their families ().

The use of sex selection for nonmedical purposes raises ethical problems despite approval for use in medical instances. For example, there is a need to avoid a particular genetically inheritable disease that impacts a specific gender. Also, gender selection commodifies children and leads to potential risks of developing selections based on genetic characteristics like intelligence ability, height, eyes, and hair colors. These selections conflict with nature as parents should accept their children as they are, and gender selections create a belief that parents can select children as they select other customized commodities (). Furthermore, selecting a child based on a specific gender creates hopes for particular characteristics that may not be guaranteed. For example, parents who opt for male children may create expectations that they will be a sports enthusiast, and these expectations may not be met. This results in unnecessary pressure on children to conform to their parent’s expectations rather than performing based on their abilities.

Moreover, gender selection promotes sex discrimination as parents' preference for one gender may indicate that a particular gender is more desirable than the other. For example, in China and India, a setting where gender selection prefers boys over girls supports unethical social biases against existing women. Besides, selections that target women may cause problems for human rights and gender equality. Besides, the British religious, medical group, and Christian Medical Fellowship supported a stance to disapprove gender selections through its secretary-general, Peter Saunders. Besides, gender selection practice poses a global problem, and its international responsibilities must be identified by the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (). Gender selection has also faced critics on reasons that it promotes termination of life. For example, during inseminations in fertilization clinics, undesired embryos that are not implanted are destroyed. Further, the practices have faced opposition from pro-life groups who criticize sperm sorting techniques in gender selections. This is due to its unreliability since pregnant women who realize that their fetus is not of the desired gender will prefer to abort rather than give birth.

Over time, the support for in vitro fertilization and the use of ultrasounds to determine the gender of babies in sex selection has become familiar and a normal routine, with some opposing the approval of these practices while others are resorting to the practices. It is important to understand the social and ethical implications of these practices and patients' interest when applying nonmedical gender selections. Besides, gender selection practices in children's adoption face moral critics from religious communities who argue that sex selections encourage the manipulation of human life. It goes against God as he is the only one to determine the sex of human beings. More critics are directed towards gender selections that evoke racial practices causing manipulation of human life.

Conclusion

Gender selections should not be allowed due to moral and ethical concerns on the implications of these practices. Several cultures across China and India exhibit patterns of consistent preferences for one gender over the other, which sends a message that a particular gender is desirable than another. Besides, the use of scientific techniques in sex selections raises concerns about the separation methods of male and female chromosomes. Despite support for gender selection in family balancing and reducing burdens of having many children, the practice has contributed to evident potential risks of gender imbalances, discriminations, and rising cases of kidnapping and women trafficking in China and India.

According to studies on adoption cases in the U.S. and abroad, for example, India and China, results indicate a reversal in preferences for boys compared to girls. This bases on perceptions that girls are less exposed to dysfunctional social behaviors