Malaysian Health Minister Chua Soi Lek has said that the country could be restricting a fertilization test that allows parents to select their baby's sex.
Malaysian Health Minister Chua Soi Lek has said that the country could be restricting a fertilization test that allows parents to select their baby's sex. This is being done for the fear that most potential parents will choose boys.
'We are not against infertile couples seeking medical treatment to have babies, but they should not choose the sex,' Chua said. But he added that such procedures would only be allowed if 'a particular sex predisposes a serious genetic condition like hemophilia and Down syndrome.'He also warned that using the procedure in the long term would affect the balance in the country's sex ratio. The new rule will mostly focus on a screening test known as pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD. This test allows doctors to check for specific genetic mutations in the fetus.
Doctors say that this test will allow them to spare parents a lifetime of agony; while critics argue that it helps them select which traits they want in their kids.
