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One Important Reason Why you should Consider Choosing the Sex of your Baby At some point in our lives, we have all wished that we could choose with some degree of certainty which child we would have. Gender selection of offspring has been a quest of mankind for ages, not just from the time of the Greeks and the Romans. Western countries are believed to have spent over a billion dollars in research of this kind. Old wives tales and folklore have thrived on our desire to have the baby of our choice. The ancient Chinese are reported to have devised a system that was some 65 percent accurate. But first, why would anyone want to choose the gender of ones baby? Any baby, boy or girl, is a gift of nature, and should be welcome as such? There have been a variety of arguments presented over the years for favoring a gender-specific baby. The most important reason, and the one which I strongly support, for trying to influence the gender of your baby at the time of conception, is medical. Many disabilities are now known to be transmitted across generations through genes. Many of these disabilities are gender specific. For example, a woman herself may not suffer from a gene-linked illness, but she will convey the disease-causing gene to her male children who will then be affected by the disease. There are about 350-plus X-linked disorders (diseases that only male children inherit), some of them fatal, such as hemophilia, muscular dystrophy and X-linked hydrocephalus, and gender selection is almost a compulsion for such families. If the woman is a known carrier of an X-linked disorder, sex selection is the one way to try and prevent passing on the disease to a male child. Some may accuse these couples of playing God. But couples attempting gender selection usually have practical reasons for doing so. Quality of life becomes an issue for both parents and child. For instance, will the child be so handicapped that he is in perpetual discomfort? What will happen to this child if the parents are no longer able to care for him? Can the stress of raising a boy who will require constant nursing care and will never lead a normal life support the marriage? The same argument of playing God can be used against contraceptives and abortion? One must make the choices in life that one believes are necessary. Sometimes gender selection, attempting to improve the odds in favour of conceiving a boy or girl as desired, is a choice one must make.

Induced abortion is the deliberate termination of pregnancy in a manner that ensures that the embryo or fetus will not survive. Attitudes of society toward elective abortion have undergone marked changes in the past few decades. In some situations the need for abortion is accepted by most people, but political and medical attitudes regarding induced abortion have continued to lag behind changing philosophies. Some religious concepts remain unchanged, resulting in personal, medical, and political conflicts. About one-third of the worlds population lives in nations with nonrestrictive laws governing abortion. Another third live in countries with moderately restrictive abortion laws, ie, where unwanted pregnancies may not be terminated as a matter of right or personal decision but only on broadly interpreted medical, psychologic, and sociologic indications. The remainder live in countries where abortion is illegal without qualification or is allowed only when the womans life or health would be severely threatened if the pregnancy were allowed to continue. An estimated 1 out of every 4 pregnancies in the world is terminated by induced abortion, making it perhaps the most common method of reproduction limitation. Prior to the procedure's legalization in the United States, estimates ranged from 0.25 million to 1.25 million per year. The number of legal abortions now being performed in this country approximates 1 abortion per 4 live births. In 1997, there were 1.33 million induced abortions compared to 3.88 million live births. Legal Aspects of Induced Abortion in the United States The United States Supreme Court ruled in 1973 (1) that the restrictive abortion laws in the U.S. were invalid, largely because these laws invaded the individuals right to privacy, and (2) that an abortion could not be denied to a woman in the first 3 months of pregnancy. The Court indicated that after 3 months a state may regulate the abortion procedure in ways that are reasonably related to maternal health and that after the fetus reaches the stage of viability (about 24 weeks) the states may refuse the right to terminate the pregnancy except when necessary for the preservation of the life or health of the mother. Still, much opposition is raised by various right-to-life groups and religious groups. In spite of this opposition, over 1 million procedures are still performed annually in the United States, with about one-third being performed on teenaged women. This dramatically emphasizes the inadequacy of sex education and the need for greater availability of adequate contraceptive methods in order to avoid such pregnancy wastage. Evaluation of Patients Requesting Induced Abortion Patients give varied reasons for requesting abortion. Since in some cases the request is made at the urging of the womans parents or in-laws, husband, or peers, every effort should be made to ascertain that the patient herself desires abortion for her own reasons. In addition, one should be certain that she knows she is free to choose among other methods of solving the problem of unplanned pregnancy, eg, adoption or single-parent rearing. Although the majority of abortions are performed as elective procedures, ie, because of social or economic reasons as opposed to medical reasons, some women still request such services for medical or surgical indications. For example, for women with certain medical conditions, such as Eisen mengers complex and cystic fibrosis, continuation of pregnancy may pose a threat to the life of the mother. Other indications are pregnancy resulting from a rape or pregnancy with a fetus affected with a major disorder, eg, trisomy 13. In any event, the ultimate decision rests with the pregnant woman.

Deciding when their family is the right size-or how to make sure it stays that size-is a personal decision that many women may find easier to make in the years to come. “Getting your tubes tied,” or tubal ligation, is no longer the only option for women who have decided that they do not want any more children and feel ready for a form of birth control that is permanent. The Essure procedure, a new office-based procedure, is quickly taking the place of the old one and is covered by most insurance plans. During the procedure, a tiny, soft spring, called a micro-insert, is placed into each fallopian tube. The body’s natural response causes tissue to grow into the micro-inserts, blocking sperm from reaching the egg. This tissue growth takes about three months and additional birth control must be used during this time. After three months, a special X-ray test verifies that the system is working. There are numerous advantages to opting for this advanced method. There are no incisions, it does not contain hormones, it can be performed in a doctor’s office with minimal anesthesia and it’s permanent. The procedure takes about 15 minutes to complete and most women return to normal activities within a day or two. More than 63,000 women worldwide have already had the procedure and clinical studies have reported high safety and patient satisfaction. After many years of clinical study, no pregnancies have been reported when the micro-insert is placed correctly. While no method of birth control is 100 percent effective, the procedure’s effectiveness rate is 99.80 percent with four years of clinical data. “We finally have a technique for a woman that is comparable in simplicity, accessibility and safety to vasectomy in men,” said Dr. Barbara Levy, a national expert in endoscopic surgery practicing in Seattle. “Although the complications of surgical tubal ligation are uncommon, when they occur they may be life threatening. The rare deaths associated with tubal ligation were unacceptable in my mind.” Another advantage for busy mothers is that the procedure eliminates the time spent recovering from surgery.