Why should PGD be legal and accessable for non-medical reasons?

[Tiggerian]

Hi girlies,

I'm writing a 1000 word speech for my English class and my topic is;

Should PGD be legal in the UK for non-medical reasons?

I am for the legalisation of PGD in the UK and one of my reasons for this is the sad rise in abortions over unwanted babies of the wrong sex. But I would love to have some of you girls views and opinions on board.

It is not very long and I have to really get my view across in a persuasive manner.

Would you be so kind and help me out?

Thank you ladies !

[nuthinbutpink]

Had PGD not been available, I would of not had any additional children after my 3DD. We would have stopped. So, my son's existence is due to my persistence and PGD/IVF.

The term "Designer Babies" is often used when speaking of gender selection. This is a complete misnomer however because other than gender and overall chromosome health, you cannot screen for anything else. Family Balancing is what most couples are after and seeking balance with our lives is as old as time.

[atomic sagebrush]

I have found some people are receptive to the overpopulation angle - as in, better that families should be allowed to do family balancing than keep TTC for a desired gender. Most people want PGD for family balancing, and you can make the case that PGD could be used for family balancing only (as in, people already have X number of one gender and want the other.) A change in regulation does not necessarily mean NO regulation, designer babies, etc.

Also, you may want to look up the studies that show people in Europe, US, and Aus. have a girl preference because some people assume that everyone wants boys rather than girls when that isn't the case.

Good luck!!!

[nuthinbutpink]

Good point about the girls desired. From an old study-

As of December 31, 2002, 1530 couples had enrolled in the MicroSort® clinical trial; 90% of participants sought family balancing and 10% wished to avoid a sex-linked genetic disease. *The majority of participants desired a girl (97% for genetic disease avoidance and 71% for family balancing). *Of the 2570 total sorts performed, 73.3% were used for intrauterine insemination (IUI) and 26.6% were used for in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI).

[Tiggerian]

Thanks girls!! Thats great and helped so much!! If you've got anymore gold to help me with this speech I'd be ever so grateful =D

[My Three Sons]

Yep, the genetic issue of a particular sex carrying certain disease would be a positive to gender selection.