Gender Selection

The possibility of determining the gender of a child by gender selection, presumably before conception, is potentially fraught with issues. Assuming both parents agree on the sex of the pre-conception child, the obvious effect is to skew the proportion of each gender. This happened in China where there is now a deficit of females and this implies the destruction of the embryo when the sex can possibly be known, but in any case after conception. Abortion of the unwanted. It seems the ethos of simply a healthy child without defects is to be subverted. There are no guarantees of a successful choice and rejection of the child before or after birth (if late abortion is not an option) becomes possible. After the birth, even if it is known a wrong-choice gender had been developing, presented with a live wrong-gender child, rejection could still instantly happen. Familial breakups are very likely, especially if gender selection is considered important enough to have been discussed. One case in favour of this could be if there is a genetic problem that is either known or becomes known. To end a particular familial genetic trait, it may be prudent to terminate a developing embryo (Huntingdon's disease). Even this is likely to raise many ethical, philosophical and psychological issues.

The implications for Population Growth are far-reaching, especially when considered with the number of (male) homosexual partnerships increasing. Statistically, this is inevitable as the numbers of men and women are both increasing, but the proportion of males will outstrip females. Gender selection and the China model will, in principle, gravitate towards a barren future. The non-ability to procreate becomes a reality, though IVF and multiple births linked to surrogacy could artificially affect the balance.

Arguments for an increase in the culture of child-trading can easily be made. Not only will the natural balance (roughly 50:50) between males and females be distorted, but society will descend into a worse condition than it already is. With the selfish greed-appetite to be satiated and a deficit of females in an ever growing global population, the locations of the skew effects will move to the so-called 'civilised' world.

The world is already in a mess, in terms of both population and the financial/employment consequences of over-population. The outlook for Mothership Earth (Gaia) does not only look bad, but progressively getting worse. And by the day. Some of the new and 'progressive' ideas are actually contributing to the opposite effect.