The Greeks and Romans did it, why not us?

Lord Robert Winston, one of the world’s
leading expert in IVF technology, has given sex selection a warm endorsement.
Speaking in New Zealand, where he accepted an honorary doctorate from the
University of Auckland, Winston said that the local kerfuffle about sex
selection as recommended in a recent government report was unwarranted.

The Greeks and Romans did their best to
influence the outcome of births. "Throughout history there’s been
concoctions and decoctions and potions supposed to influence the sex at
conception. It argues they didn’t see a moral objection to it. Why should we
get so worked up about it now?" In a family with all girls or all boys,
ensuring that the latest arrival is of a different sex seems eminently
reasonable.

In any case, sex selection will soon be
hard to police in the near future. And concerns about an imbalances in the sex
ratio, as in China and India, where millions of men are finding it hard to get
wives, don’t worry him. "They might, they might not. Who knows? But I
don’t think it’s a massive issue." ~ New
Zealand Herald, June 27

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Michael Cook

Michael Cook edits BioEdge, a bioethics newsletter, and MercatorNet, an on-line magazine whose focus is human dignity. He writes from Sydney, Australia.

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