History of Sex Selection in Human Embryos Throughout human history, the sex of a newborn has mostly been a welcome surprise and a uncontrollable aspect of the life cycle. Technological advances have allowed parents not only to know the sex of their child before birth, but also to choose the sex of the child before implanting it in the uterus. Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) has been available since the early 1990s after Alan Handyside and colleagues successfully identified and implanted female embryos for several couples at risk of X-linked recessive diseases (Handyside, 1990) . Each cell in the human body contains 46 packages of DNA called chromosomes, divided into 23 pairs. One of these pairs contains sex chromosomes. Women have two X chromosomes while men have one About half of a man's sperm contain girl-producing X chromosomes, while the other half contain boy-producing Y chromosomes; the type of sperm that reaches the egg first wins the battle between the sexes. But new methods, some of which remain controversial within the medical community, attempt to control this draw (Onion, April 26). The three factors we will explore are: the legal, moral and ethical perspective on sex selection. Do the consequences of actions always guide what is morally required? What should happen when two principles come into conflict? For example, should patient autonomy be considered more important than beneficence? Are moral and ethical rules always binding or are they just guidelines to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis? The final topic to explore is societal acceptance of attitudes. Fertil Steril, 85.6: 1638-‐45. Klitzman, R. (2008). Anticipating the issues linked to the growing use of preimplantation genetic diagnosis: a research program. Reprod Biomed Online, 17, suppl.1: 33-‐42. LaFraniere, S. Chinese prejudice against baby boys creates a gap of 32 million. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/11/world/asia/11china.html?_r=0 April 10, 2009. Macer, RJ Ethics and Prenatal Diagnosis. Journal of Genetic Disorders and the Fetus: Diagnosis, Prevention and Treatment, ed. Milunsky, A. (John Hopkins University Press 1998) pp. 999-1024. Onion, A. Sex selection, no longer possible, but controversial. http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story (April 26). SingularityHub. Designer babies. Like it or not, here they are. http://singularityhub.com/2009/02/25/designer-babies-like-it-or-not-here-they-come/