<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18040-2004Dec21.html>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18040-2004Dec21.html
washingtonpost.com
A 'Choice' of Gender and Bias
Wednesday, December 22, 2004; Page A26
Sex selection for nonmedical purposes isn't a "choice," as indicated by
the headline on Rob Stein's Dec. 14 front-page article, "A Boy for You, a
Girl for Me: Technology Allows Choice." It is discrimination.
The couple profiled in the article want a boy to work in the family
company. Apparently, their girls are unsuitable business partners and only
a boy will do. This is sex discrimination and social engineering of bias.
As we work to prevent sex discrimination in the workplace, we also should
be concerned about sex discrimination in who gets to be born.
Many nations have banned sex selection for nonmedical purposes. If the
United States does not, we will have market-driven eugenics for the profit
of a few corporations. If we can discriminate about the gender of
children, it becomes easier to justify other kinds of genetic discrimination.
We all want to have happy and healthy children, but a few fertility
laboratories are trying to create a market for children as commodities.
JAYDEE HANSON
Director for Human Genetics Policy
International Center for Technology Assessment
Washington
© 2004 The Washington Post Company
===================================
The item above is being distributed as a free, non-profit informational
service to a limited number of individuals who have expressed interest in
this topic for educational and research purposes only. Please do not
redistribute or post copyrighted material anyplace on the Internet
accessible to the public without attribution and permission from the
author. Please note that distribution of this item does not necessarily
constitute endorsement of the content; in fact, often items are
distributed as "opposition research."