The U.S. is becoming a mecca for embryonic sex selection. The practice, in which clinics make multiple embryos and freeze or flush those of the wrong sex (e.g., all the girls if you want a boy), is banned in many countries. Thousands of couples from those countries are coming to the U.S. to have the procedure; more than half the clients at one clinic are foreign. Criticisms: 1) It’s wrong to kill embryos just for being male or female. 2) If everyone does this, a shortage of women in China and India will cause social disaster. 3) What other harmless traits will we flush embryos for next? Defenses: 1) We don’t flush most embryos; we freeze them. 2) Most Americans and Canadians want girls, so the selection evens out. 3) We believe in “reproductive choice”; if you don’t like sex selection, don’t do it. 4) Doing it at the embryonic stage is better than the common foreign practice of aborting female fetuses or killing baby girls.
