Question

Tim and Rebekah have five girls and they are planning to have their sixth and last child in the fall. Tim is very concerned that his bloodline will be lost as he has only daughters and no sons. He is the only boy in his family and so he feels that unless he has a son, his name will not be passed on to the next generation. Tim reads about a new technology that allows you to test embryos before implanting to select for various traits, including sex. He feels that it might be worth it not to leave it to chance to see if the last child will finally be a boy.

Consider the above scenario and determine whether you feel Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis technique should be used by Tim and Rebekah to select for a boy.

100 words.

Answer 1

Ans :

The answer is a big no for Preimplantation genetic diagonosis unless it is used to diagonise any genetic disorder ar having a high risk condition. The main purpose of Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is to help to identify genetic defects within embryos. PGD has also been used for the purpose of gender selection. However, discarding embryos based only on gender considerations is an ethical concern. Although they are decided for the family balancing, there is a clause of gender discrimination between male and female. Also PGD technique is a highly expensive medical procedure. PGD is unregulated by the goverment. There is also a critical problem that trying to identify the identity of the gender of the baby is against the goverment laws in many countries and the parents will be charged fine and imprisoned if reported. If Tim and Rebekah found the baby's gender is female there is a possibility that this couple will go for abortion. Aborting a child only for the undesired gender outcome is not acceptable in society and it is against the opportunity of free will to live a life.