The United States’ Undisturbed Silence and the United Kingdom’s Strong Voice: Comparative Approaches to Regulation of Sex Selection

The United States’ Undisturbed Silence and the United Kingdom’s Strong Voice: Comparative Approaches to Regulation of Sex Selection

By Sheila Schwallie

ABSTRACT:
Some governments have already developed opinions and drafted regulations on “designer babies” as bio-technological advances are getting close to making it a reality for parents to design their babies before in vitro fertilization. In the United Kingdom, heavy regulation of sex selection has been requested while the United States has not yet voiced a unified opinion on the issue despite the increasing use of sex selection procedures.

This note discusses the different methods of sex selection, societal views on the issue, existing case law relating to sex selection procedures, the U.S. medical community’s position on the issue, and the relevant recommendations of the President’s Council on Bioethics. The note concludes with recommendations for how the U.S. should proceed.

CITE AS:
Sheila Schwallie, Note, The United States’ Undisturbed Silence and the United Kingdom’s Strong Voice: Comparative Approaches to Regulation of Sex Selection, 12 SYRACUSE SCI. & TECH. L. REP. 1 (2005).

NOTE: Footnotes in this abstract were omitted.