Nobody's Child, Everybody's Children:

Sex Selection: Some Ethical and Policy Considerations

Sex selection, which refers to the attempt to choose or control the sex of a child prior to its birth,  has become the subject of increasing ethical scrutiny, and many jurisdictions have criminalized it, except for serious sex-linked diseases or conditions that cannot easily be ameliorated or remedied. This paper argues that such a blanket prohibition is ethically unwarranted because it is based on a flawed understanding of the difference between sexist values and mere sex-oriented preferences. It distinguishes between ethics and public policy and suggests a way of allowing preference-based sex selection as a matter of public policy without permitting value-based sex selection. It further argues that medically-based sex selection should be publicly funded, that preference-based sex selection should not be paid for by society, and that the prohibition against value-based sex selection should be enforced through legislation that controls the licensing of health care facilities and through disciplinary procedures against health care professionals.