Final Report (all chapters)

strong preference for a mixed family, 46 suggesting that there may indeed be a significant demand
for sex-selection services, at least for the purpose of “family balancing.”
Policy preferences seem consistent with general attitudes. A recently released consultative
report on sex selection prepared by the British HFEA shows that 82 percent disagreed with the
statement “The use of sperm sorting should be permitted in sex selection for non-medical
reasons.” 47
Even sex selection for the purpose of “family balancing” did not gather much
sympathy – 82 percent again rejected this option. 48 Similar results were obtained by a much more
rigorous survey conducted in Germany, 49 where 92 percent of respondents were not interested in
using sperm-sorting technology to select the sex of a child. Postulating that the sex-selection
process could be carried out in a much more straightforward way did not change this pattern. 50
The data for the United States is somewhat more ambiguous. A study conducted in the early
1990s, along with a 2002 survey, suggests that the preference for a male first child in the United
States is much higher than in Europe, ranging between 58 percent for men and 40 percent for
women. 51 The 2002 study puts the proportion of respondents that would be willing to use sexselection
technologies, if available, at 21 percent. Of this 21 percent, men would overwhelmingly
prefer a boy (75 percent), whereas women had only a slight preference for boys (56 percent).
These results were obtained from a non-random sample of undergraduate students, and should
not be taken at face value. A much more rigorous and recent study produced somewhat different
results. 52 A representative sample of 1,197 individuals ages 18 to 45 was asked five questions
designed to elicit possible preference for a sex and interest in using a sex-selection technology.
As with prior studies, participants in this survey expressed a fairly strong preference for a male
first born (39 percent), 19 percent would prefer a girl and 42 percent were indifferent. The actual
interest in using sex-selection technologies, however, is modest. Only 8 percent of respondents,
given its estimated cost, would consider using a sex-selection technology. This figure increases
to 18 percent if the sex of a child could be chosen simply by medication, whereas 59 percent
were still uninterested. A somewhat similar pattern emerges from a large, comparative survey of
practitioners and the general population on the acceptability of potentially controversial
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
Karsten Hank and Hans-Peter Kohler, "Gender Preferences for Children in Europe: Empirical Results from 17
FFS Countries," Demographic Research 2, no. 1 (2000).
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), "HFEA Annual Report 2003/04," (London: 2004),
p.24.
Ibid.
Dahl et al., "Preconception Sex Selection for Non-Medical Reasons: A Representative Survey from Germany."
“Suppose there was a medication enabling parents to choose the sex of their children. Couples simply had to
ingest a blue pill to ensure the birth of a boy, or a pink pill to ensure the birth of a girl. Would you take
advantage of such medication?”Ibid., p.2232.
Roberta Steinbacher and Faith Gilroy, "Sex Selection Technology: A Prediction of Its Use and Effect," Journal
of Psychology 124, no. 3 (1990); Doreen Swetkis, Faith Gilroy, and Roberta Steinbacher, "Firstborn Preference
and Attitudes toward Using Sex Selection Technology," The Journal of Genetic Psychology 163, no. 2 (2002).
Edgar Dahl et al., "Preconception Sex Selection Demand and Preferences in the United States," Fertility and
Sterility 85, no. 2 (2006).
92