561 women being treated for infertility in Chicago responded to a
questionnaire about gender selection. 40% of those women said that they
would like to choose their baby's sex, if it was free. Of those, half
would still want to choose their baby's sex at an additional cost. What
gender did they want? 61% said they would choose a girl.
"One of the fears is that sex selection will drive patients toward a
certain sex. And the presumption is a preference for boys.
But our study did not show that. In fact, in patients who did not have
children there was no greater desire for boys over girls," says Dr.
Tarun Jain, one of the study's authors.
Would you like to choose the sex of your baby, at no extra cost?
41% - Yes
Of those who answered yes,
46% had no previous children
48% had all boys or all girls
6% had at least a boy and a girl
Of those who answered yes, would you be willing to pay extra to choose the sex of your baby?
About 50% - Yes
What method of gender selection would you choose?
55% - Sperm separation
41% - PGD (Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis)
4% - Neither
The assumption that gender selection would mostly be used to choose
boys, perhaps upsetting the gender balance, is often used as an
argument against it. This study is yet another bit of evidence that
there is no basis for this assumption, because
parents prefer girls just as much as boys; Western countries simply do not share the much publicized son preference seen in Asia.
The oft-repeated factoid that most parents would want a boy as a firstborn is refuted here as well.