Fertility Doctors response to HFEA report on Sex Selection
12th November 2003 The British Fertility Society
(BFS) welcomes the HFEA report on sex selection.
The Society agrees with the recommendations that sperm sorting
techniques should be subject to regulation and only carried out
in licensed clinics. Appropriate counselling of patients considering
such techniques is essential. Safety concerns about the specific
techniques are rightly mentioned and consequently restriction of
the technique for medical reasons only seems appropriate at this
time.
The Society encourages further debate on the ethical implications
of gender selection for non-medical reasons. The clear majority
of the public is against sex selection and clinics will continue
to seek the views of the public and take these views into account.
The BFS believes that further basic laboratory research is essential
in this important area, and further exploration of the implications
of sex selection techniques for children, families and the community
should be encouraged.
Professor Alison Murdoch, Chair of the British
Fertility Society said ‘The British Fertility Society
welcomes this report and we support its findings. We think that
it is important that this technique is regulated, and that the regulations
take into account the real concerns of the public at large. Like
the general public, the majority of our members want sex selection
only where there are sound medical reasons. Like many aspects of
fertility, the techniques will evolve, and we will need to make
sure that we continue to review the ethical and practical use of
the technique in the light of any developments’.
Dr Gillian Lockwood (Chair of the BFS ethics subcommittee)
said ‘Clinicians and scientists working in assisted reproduction
must be willing to take a lead in ensuring developing techniques,
which can bring real benefits to patients, are in the public domain.
At the same time, we must ensure that these techniques are safe
and effective, and that the public accepts the way these techniques
are used.
The report of the HFEA makes it quite clear that the only totally
reliable method of selecting a baby’s sex is highly invasive,
very expensive, and offers only limited prospects of success. Less
invasive and less expensive methods of sex selection are neither
totally reliable nor completely safe. There could be real concerns
about the welfare of babies born using these methods if they turn
out to be the ‘wrong sex’.
Using sex selection techniques to ensure that some serious
genetic diseases are avoided is a valuable and achievable goal for
assisted reproduction. Using sex selection techniques to allow parents
to 'choose' the sex of their child on other grounds runs the risk
of promoting sex discrimination'.
For more information: please contact the British Fertility Society press office
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