FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Choosing your child's gender is becoming more and more mainstream in the United States.
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It's done by using a technology called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis - which was developed two decades ago to screen embryos for genetic diseases. Parents using in vitro-fertilization have the embryos screened to make sure they're not passing along genetic illnesses.
But the same screening can also be used to select the gender of the embryo that's implanted in the mother's uterus.
In most countries it's illegal, but not here in the land of instant gratification. It costs about $18,000.
Experts say most of the clients come from other countries; but that a lot of the Americans using this technology for gender selection already have a boy and want a girl - or vice versa.
Critics worry about the ethics of it all… is this really stuff we should be playing around with? And they suggest it could lead to a gender imbalance - especially in countries that traditionally prefer boys - places like China or India.
A doctor who pioneered this technique says he worries about using it to screen embryos for non-scientific reasons - asking if it's something doctors should be involved in.
But other fertility doctors see nothing wrong with it and say it's just another example of giving women more reproductive choices.
Here’s my question to you: Would you choose your child’s gender?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Renee writes:
I am a proud mother of 6 healthy boys and I have always wanted to have a daughter. I am still young and I'm in good health. If my financial situation was better and I were able to afford it, I would definitely choose the gender of my child. I would have stopped at 2 kids if I had a girl and a boy, but I always held out a little hope that the next one would be a girl.
Thad writes:
It’s a tough decision. It touches me personally because I have three daughters and I surely want a son. Using conventional ways and statistics I am almost guaranteed another girl. I am all for it.
Dale writes:
When you see the pure evil of gender selection in China and India you can't help but have a healthy aversion to the practice. I am a man but see this as yet another tool to devalue women in society by some groups. I understand the desire to have one of each or even two of the same but I do not think we should have the right. The real consequences are immoral.
Lou writes:
I'll be for creating designer babies just as soon as children have the right to pick qualities they like in parents. My dad would have loved having another boy rather than my little sister, but we both would have been equally happy to trade him in for a less alcoholic model.
D. writes:
When people have too many choices, they often make bad ones.
Darren writes:
What comes after that: picking which annoying genetic traits their child won't have?
Diana from New Jersey writes:
After having 3 daughters and 2 sons, I sure would: All my girls give me gray hair, acid indigestion and sleepless nights. I would have all sons or puppies instead.