SEARCH · Search PubMed
Results for “Sex Preselection”
Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Clinical experience with flow cytometric separation of human X- and Y-chromosome bearing sperm.
Numerous methods to separate human X- and Y-bearing sperm have been reported with unconfirmed separation after DNA analysis and inconsistent birth results. Successful flow cytometric separation of sperm resulting in alteration of the sex ratio of young born has been demonstrated in several animal species. Flow cytometric separation of human X- and Y-bearing sperm (MicroSort) has been confirmed after DNA analysis by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Pregnancies and births have resulted from the use of MicroSort after intrauterine insemination (IUI), in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).
Widespread concern over India's missing girls. Selective abortion and female infanticide cause girl-to-boy ratios to plummet.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Low female[corrected]-to-male [corrected] sex ratio of children born in India: national survey of 1.1 million households.
BACKGROUND: Fewer girls than boys are born in India. Various hypotheses have been proposed to explain this low sex ratio. Our aim was to ascertain the contribution of prenatal sex determination and selective abortion as measured by previous birth sex. METHODS: We analysed data obtained for the Special Fertility and Mortality Survey undertaken in 1998. Ever-married women living in 1.1 million households in 6671 nationally-representative units were asked questions about their fertility history and children born in 1997. FINDINGS: For the 133 738 births studied for 1997, the adjusted sex ratio for the second birth when the preceding child was a girl was 759 per 1000 males (99% CI 731-787). The adjusted sex ratio for the third child was 719 (675-762) if the previous two children were girls. By contrast, adjusted sex ratios for second or third births if the previous children were boys were about equal (1102 and 1176, respectively). Mothers with grade 10 or higher education had a significantly lower adjusted sex ratio (683, 610-756) than did illiterate mothers (869, 820-917). Stillbirths and neonatal deaths were more commonly male, and the numbers of stillbirths were fewer than the numbers of missing births, suggesting that female infanticide does not account for the difference. INTERPRETATION: Prenatal sex determination followed by selective abortion of female fetuses is the most plausible explanation for the low sex ratio at birth in India. Women most clearly at risk are those who already have one or two female children. Based on conservative assumptions, the practice accounts for about 0.5 million missing female births yearly, translating over the past 2 decades into the abortion of some 10 million female fetuses.
Missing female births in India.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Sex selection in practice among Hong Kong Chinese.
The aim of this study is to identify factor(s) influencing imbalance in the sex distribution of children (more children of the same sex) of the multiparous women attending an antenatal clinic in Hong Kong. A retrospective study was carried out to compare the expected and observed sex ratios of babies born to women with one previous live birth and women with two. All singleton pregnant women of parities 1 and 2 delivering after 22 weeks of gestation, between 1 July 1996 and 30 June 1998, were included. A total of 2604 women of parity 1 and 752 women of parity 2 were included. The sexes of the children of parity 1 women and the sex distribution of their newborns were consistent with the predicted value. The parity 2 women were more likely to have third children if their previous children were of the same sex (p-value < 0.001). This implies that the parity 2 women attending our antenatal clinic had third pregnancies because of social, economical or environmental reasons. Our parity 2 women with two daughters were more likely to have sons (p < 0.05). Thus, biological or parental factors were unlikely to be important in influencing the sex of the newborn. This suggested that sex selection or sex-selective abortion might be practiced among Hong Kong Chinese women.
The ethics of selecting for fetal sex.
Though it is not yet within our capacity to engineer the sex of a human fetus prior to conception, recent technological advances have made possible earlier and earlier detection of the sex of a fetus in utero. Where an embryo has been fertilized in vitro, detection of sex can be carried out much earlier still. These developments make it possible for couples to decide whether to continue with a pregnancy where a fetus is not of the preferred sex. To permit couples such an option would raise several ethical and policy issues. I consider ethical objections based, firstly, on there being something inherently wrong with the practice of sex selection; secondly, on there being serious untoward consequences from the practice of sex selection; and thirdly, on the wrongness of the abortions which would be required to make the practice effective. I argue that none of these is decisive against a handful of cases where sex selection might be justified, in particular, where it would help reduce the incidence of sex-linked diseases and in cases where strong economic or psychological grounds exist for endorsing parental choice over the sex of their offspring. Even granted that there are no strong ethical reasons for opposing all parental choice of sex (where this is understood to be a private decision), I claim that there are, nonetheless, powerful policy reasons for severely restricting the use of the expensive technology in the service of such private decision-making.
Sex selection: the systematic elimination of girls.
In strongly patriarchal societies, where the cultural and economic value of sons is at a premium, son preference manifests itself in many ways, ranging from differential allocation of household resources, medical care and neglect of girl children to female infanticide. With the increasing availability of ultrasound in the mid-1980s sex determination followed by sex-selective abortion began to become widespread as well. The following paper introduces this Roundtable and discusses the following questions: Is sex selection a part of women's right to free choice and control over their reproduction? What is the role of the medical profession? Are all manifestations of sex selection equally unethical? Are there solutions? Do the solutions themselves pose new ethical dilemmas? Following this paper, four respondents put different points of view on sex selection as a gender-based preference for a pregnancy; progress in getting the Supreme Court of India to implement a 1994 law regulating the use of antenatal diagnostic technology; why sex selection should be available as a form of reproductive choice; and why sex selection may be empowering for women and justify their actions in the short run, given the demands on them. All agree that only improved status for women and girls will reduce the demand for sex selection.
Why shouldn't couples be free to choose the sex of their baby?
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Sex selective abortions: short-term and long-term perspectives.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Sex selection/determination in India: contemporary developments.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
No country is an island: comment on the House of Commons report Human Reproductive Technologies and the Law.
In its recent report Human Reproductive Technologies and the Law, the House of Commons' Select Committee on Science and Technology insisted that the United Kingdom 'does not take a purely insular view' on sex selection but to carefully consider the impact on other countries before allowing changes to current legislation. True, no country is an island, not even the British Isles. Still, outlawing a harmless practice in Great Britain because of its alleged harmful effects in other countries is bad public policy.
Response to 'No country is an island: comment on the House of Commons report Human Reproductive Technologies and the Law'.
Edgar Dahl supports sex selection, e.g. through separation of X and Y sperm or through PGD. It is argued in this commentary that while such sex selection would seem reasonable for balancing a family (wanting a daughter if one already has a son, or vice-versa), it is likely to lead to skewing of female-male ratios, not only in India where it is already as low as 0.8 in certain parts, but possibly also in Great Britain as male chauvinism is not a thing of the past anywhere.
Concerns of sex selection and regulation in the report on Human Reproductive Technologies and the Law.
The House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee, comprising 11 members, reviewed human reproductive technologies and the law and presented their fifth report of Session 2004-05 on 28 March 2005. They felt 'it necessary to reconnect the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act of 1990 with the changes in modern science'.
Are we talking about the butterflies or a butterfly effect? Comment on 'No country is an island'.
The recent report of the House of Commons' Select Committee on Science and Technology (House of Commons, 2005) states that the UK should carefully consider the impact of sex selection on other countries before an attempt is made to change or modify the legislation in UK. However, controversy exists among experts as well as the public on whether the issue should be discussed and evaluated within the British norms or from a wider multi-national perspective. This commentary is designed to discuss the possible impact of the UK's attitude on sex selection on other countries.
Procreative liberty: the case for preconception sex selection.
Preconception sex selection for non-medical reasons raises serious moral, legal and social issues. The main concerns include the threat of a sex ratio distortion due to a common preference for boys over girls, the charge of sexism, the danger of reinforcing gender stereotypical behaviour in sex selected children, and the fear of a slippery slope towards creating designer babies. This paper endeavours to show that none of the objections to preconception sex selection is conclusive and that there is no justification for denying parents the right to choose the sex of their prospective children.
Selection for faster development does not bias sex ratios resulting from blastocyst embryo transfer.
Concerns of possible male biased sex ratios with IVF exist due to reports of faster preimplantation development for male relative to female embryos in a variety of mammals, including humans. This study reports the first direct test of the hypothesis that selection for faster preimplantation development to the blastocyst stage increases the likelihood of a male birth. Gender outcomes of all live births resulting from blastocyst stage embryo transfer within a large assisted reproduction practice were reviewed, along with associated embryological records. The developmental stage of transferred embryos relative to the average developmental stage of all viable embryos in each cohort was related to gender outcomes by logistic regression analysis. Gender data were available for 1,184 children born from 815 pregnancies resulting from blastocyst stage embryo transfer during the study period. Data on preimplantation embryonic development were available for 737 cycles resulting in the birth of 1,075 children. There was no relationship between selection for developmental rate and the gender of resulting children. Numbers of male and female children were nearly identical within this patient population (593 male versus 591 female). These results indicate that offspring gender is unrelated to selection for developmental rate among blastocyst transfer cycles.
Preconception gender selection: a threat to the natural sex ratio?
This brief paper summarizes a series of postal investigations on the acceptance of selection for X or Y spermatozoa. These were conducted mainly in Germany but also in the UK, the Netherlands and the US. Selected families were approached with a series of questions about their wish to use sperm selection, and their choice of boys or girls. In general, large majorities opposed this approach for family balancing or sex selection on the basis of cost and inconvenience of the treatment. The view was expressed that its use in medicine was more acceptable. Care was taken to compose a series of open questions to particular sections of the population, e.g.men versus women, differing ages, and families with imbalanced sex ratios. More favourable responses arose, for example in pregnant women. Overall, all four nations had large majorities against the use of sex selection.