Ethical and social issues in prenatal sex selection: A survey of geneticists in 37 nations

In a recent 37-nation survey of 2903 geneticists and genetic counselors, 29% would perform prenatal diagnosis (PND) for a couple with four girls who want a boy and would abort a female fetus. An additional 20% would offer a referral. The percentage who would perform PND in the United States (34%) wa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSocial science & medicine (1982) Vol. 46; no. 2; pp. 255 - 273
Main Authors Wertz, Dorothy C., Fletcher, John C.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford Elsevier Ltd 1998
Elsevier
Pergamon Press Inc
SeriesSocial Science & Medicine
Subjects
Abortion
Adult
Attitude of Health Personnel
Attitudes
Bioethics
Biological and medical sciences
Child Sex Preferences
Crosscultural Analysis
Crossnational studies
Ethics
Ethics, Medical
Female
Fetuses
Gender
Genetic counseling
Genetic Counseling - trends
Genetics
Humans
Individualism
Male
Medical care
Medical Decision Making
Medical ethics
Medical genetics
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Moral and religious aspects
Pregnancy
Prenatal Diagnosis
prenatal sex selection
prenatal sex selection ethics genetics
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Religion and Medicine
Selection
Sex
Sex of children, Parental preference for
Sex Preselection
Sex selection
Sexes
Social research
Socioeconomic Factors
Teaching. Deontology. Ethics. Legislation
ethics
prenatal sex selection
genetics
Human
Attitude
Health staff
Selection
Induced abortion
Sex
Physician
Developing countries
Prenatal
Ethics
Survey
Genetics
Diagnosis
Child
Industrialized country
Social impact
Public health
Empirical Approach
Genetics and Reproduction
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Summary:In a recent 37-nation survey of 2903 geneticists and genetic counselors, 29% would perform prenatal diagnosis (PND) for a couple with four girls who want a boy and would abort a female fetus. An additional 20% would offer a referral. The percentage who would perform PND in the United States (34%) was exceeded only by Israel (68%), Cuba (62%), Peru (39%), and Mexico (38%). In all, 47% had had requests for sex selection. There appears to be a trend toward honoring such requests since a similar survey in 1985. This paper discusses reasons for this trend and the ethical dilemmas of refusing patient requests in societies where individual autonomy is stressed.
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ISSN:0277-9536
1873-5347
DOI:10.1016/S0277-9536(97)00159-7