Fetal Sex Selection

Prenatal genetic diagnosis (PGD) on a single blastomere from the embryo in the IVF laboratories made it possible for very early selection of the sex of the embryo in IVF programs. This poses the ethical question of the right of the mother or the couple to choose the sex of the baby. This  opens a wide and conflicting debate around non-ethical discrimination against female fetuses in favor of males. Non-therapeutic fetal sex identification and selection and its implications on reproductive self determination and women's or couple's choices is likely to be a topic of debate in international forums. Sex selection was practiced by the Arabs before Islam when female babies used to be buried after their birth and Islam forbidded such selection as this constitutes a challenge to the will of God(20, 21 & 53).

Recently there has been a debate in the Muslim world on the possibility of sex selection for non therapeutic reasons at such an early stage of development(54-55). Social and family balance concerning the number of either sexes in the family are among the reasons to support such an argument. However, there is no unanimous agreement among Muslim religious leaders on this issue. Further debate should be encouraged.