Sex selection technologies have become increasingly prevalent and
accessible. We can find them advertised widely across the Internet and
discussed in the popular media—an entry for “sex selection
services” on Google generated 859,000 sites in April 2004. The
available services fall into three main types: (1) preconception sperm
sorting followed either by intrauterine insemination of selected sperm
(IUI) or by in vitro fertilization (IVF); (2) preimplantation genetic
diagnosis (PGD), by which embryos created by IVF are tested and only those
of the desired sex are transferred to the woman's uterus; and (3)
prenatal testing of fetuses through ultrasound or chromosomal analysis,
followed by selective abortion of fetuses detected to be of the undesired
sex.Victoria Seavilleklein's research
was supported by the following grants: Izaak Walton Killam Memorial
Scholarship, Social Sciences and Humanities Council Doctoral Fellowship,
and CIHR Training Program in Ethics of Health Research and
Policy. Earlier versions of this paper were read to the Philosophy Department
at Dalhousie University and to the participants of the CIHR Training
Program in Ethics of Health Research and Policy. We are grateful for the
helpful feedback we received on both occasions. We also appreciate the
comments made by Micah Hester and two anonymous reviewers.