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Spring 2002
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Prenatal
Diagnosis and Sex Selection
A 32-year-old woman, Lisa B, comes to the prenatal diagnostic center of
a major hospital. She is intent on arranging for chorionic villi
sampling (CVS) in order to determine the sex of the fetus she is
carrying. A genetic counselor explains to her that the center has an
established policy against making prenatal diagnosis (whether CVS or
amniocentesis) available for purposes of sex selection. The genetic
counselor, in defending the policy, tells her that there is a collective
sense at the center that abortion purely on grounds of sex selection is
both morally and socially problematic.
Lisa B proceeds to explain her situation. She and her husband already
have three children, all of whom are girls. They want very much to
have a male child but, for economic reasons, are determined to have no
more than one more child. Indeed, if they had a boy among their three
children, they would not even consider having a fourth. They fell so
strongly about this fourth child’s being a boy that if they cannot
gain assurance that it is a male they will elect abortion. Lisa B
insists that it is unfair for the center to deny her access to
prenatal diagnosis.
Should the center consider this case an
exceptional one and make CVS available?
- Would the center be well advised to develop a
different policy regarding the availability to prenatal diagnosis
for purposes of sex selection?
- How can one morally justify prenatal diagnosis for
sex selection?
- Do parents have a "right" to have a child
of a particular sex or character?
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Course
Overview