 Many people at some point of their lives wished they could decide for certain sex of the child. Some of them prefer to have a boy, and others give their privilege for a girl. Mankind has been searching the problem of gender selection of offspring for ages, not just in times of the Romans and Greeks. Old wives’ tales and folklore have told us about the desire to have the baby of chosen sex. The ancient Chinese are reported to have some specific system of sex identification of the fetus, which was correct for 65%.
With the advent of ultrasound and amniocentesis, it became possible for parents to determine sex of their child before birth. This has led to sex-selective abortion, when parents decide do or not abortion, depending on sex of the fetus.
But first, why do people want to choose the gender of their babies? Any child, girl or boy, is an invaluable unique gift of nature, that is why it should be welcome such. Over the years different factors have being influenced upon the preferences of baby’s particular gender. One of the most important reasons is the medical point. Many diseases are cased by genes. Many of them are gender specific. For example, a woman may not suffer from a gene-linked disability, but she will hand down the disease-causing gene to her male child who will then be affected by the sickness. Approximately 350 X-linked disorders are known; only male children inherit such diseases. They are hemophilia, muscular dystrophy and X-linked hydrocephalus, some of them are fatal. For such families gender selection is a compulsory procedure. Sex selection is the only way to prevent passing on the disease to a male child.
Some may criticize these parents in playing of God. But couples seeking gender selection usually have important reasons for it. Parents do not want to sentence their child to be mentally or physically handicapped, because it will lead to permanent discomfort for them and for their child. They think over about what will happen to their child if they are no longer able to care for him.
Sex-selective abortions might be partly responsible for the lack of coincidence between the birth rates of female and male children in individual places. The preference for male children is noticed in many areas of Asia. The use of abortion to limit female birth has been reported in Taiwan, South Korea, India, and Mainland China. The resembling situation is reported in a Hindu tradition. It dictates that funeral rights must be performed by a male relative.
The historic son preference is observed in the People’s Republic of China. In response to population concerns, the realization of the one-child policy in 1979 led to an increased disparity in the sex rate.
| 
