Ethics of sex choice probed

By REBECCA WALSH, health reporter

New Zealanders will soon have a say on whether people should be allowed to choose the sex of their baby.

This week, sex selection was spurned by the British public in a major consultation project. Many people said parental love should be unconditional and that children were a gift, not a choice.

The British Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, which regulates fertility treatment, said after public consultation that it would recommend a ban on sex selection, except in families where one gender risked inheriting a serious genetic disorder, such as haemophilia, which affects only boys.

The authority also said sex selection could not be used for "family balancing", for example where a family had three boys and wanted the next baby to be a girl.

Professor Sylvia Rumball, chairwoman of the National Ethics Committee on Assisted Human Reproduction, said New Zealanders would be asked for their opinions on the use of sex selection within the next three months.

"Although I can't anticipate public consultation, personally I would be very surprised if the New Zealand public showed any enthusiasm for use of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis for sex selection.

"I'm not aware of any groundswell asking for it."

In July, Health Minister Annette King approved the use of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) on the condition that the committee develop draft guidelines to tackle ethical issues such as sex selection.

The technique, used with in vitro fertilisation, involves testing embryos for serious inherited genetic conditions before transfer to the womb. The procedure is already available in Britain and Australia.

Another method, known as sperm sorting, enables a choice to be made about the sex of an embryo before fertilisation. The technique is not available in New Zealand.

Dr Richard Fisher, director of Fertility Associates, one of the clinics seeking approval to use the PGD test, said it was primarily to improve the chances of a successful pregnancy. For example, as women got older the chances of producing an embryo that carried the wrong number of chromosomes increased dramatically.

Tests could exclude those embryos that would never implant or led to miscarriage.

But as a result of testing the gender of the embryos would be known and the question would be how to decide which embryos to put back.

Dr Fisher said about eight people a year asked if they could choose the sex of their baby. Fertility Associates did not have a formal position on sex selection.

"I don't think there are a lot of people in the community who would use it and I don't think in our society we are going to have a mad rush for one gender or the other so the population itself is not at risk."

Professor Rumball said it was hoped the draft guidelines would be completed by the middle of next month and released for public consultation within two to three months.

Feedback would be sought from the public and groups including fertility clinics and associations concerned with particular diseases.

The Catholic Church opposes sex selection, saying it goes against basic human rights.

The issue will be covered in amendments to the Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill, which is expected to be passed next year.