The one child one family policy in China has boys out numbering girls 117 to 100. In parts of northern India the score card is 140 boys to every 100 girls born.

And yet, pre-implantation testing, for the sole purpose of sex selection is not only legal in the U.S., it is becoming a mainstream practice. Couples who do not have problems with infertilty are increasing joining the ranks of infertile couples at fertilty clinics. Why you ask? Because couples want the choice or right to determine the birth order and sexes of their children. So much so that they are willing to undergo costly and risky procedures just to be sure their boys and girls are born in the right order.

Matthew and Beth Mandolesi used this technology to have their son pictured here. They said they are very happy they made this choice although ethics never factored into their decision.

We certainly wouldn’t want disorganized, unorderly or unbalanced families.

Author Profile

Jennifer Lahl, CBC Founder
Jennifer Lahl, CBC Founder
Jennifer Lahl, MA, BSN, RN, is founder and president of The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network. Lahl couples her 25 years of experience as a pediatric critical care nurse, a hospital administrator, and a senior-level nursing manager with a deep passion to speak for those who have no voice. Lahl’s writings have appeared in various publications including Cambridge University Press, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Dallas Morning News, and the American Journal of Bioethics. As a field expert, she is routinely interviewed on radio and television including ABC, CBS, PBS, and NPR. She is also called upon to speak alongside lawmakers and members of the scientific community, even being invited to speak to members of the European Parliament in Brussels to address issues of egg trafficking; she has three times addressed the United Nations during the Commission on the Status of Women on egg and womb trafficking.