Human Reproduction, Vol. 18, No. 10, 2231-2234,
October 2003
© 2003 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology
Preconception sex selection for non-medical reasons:a representative survey from Germany
1 Centre for Dermatology and Andrology and 2 Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany
3 To whom correspondence should be addressed at: Centre for Dermatology and Andrology, University of Giessen, Gaffkystr. 14, D-35385 Giessen, Germany. e-mail: Edgar.Dahl{at}derma.med.uni-giessen.de
BACKGROUND: Preconception sex selection for non-medical reasons raises serious moral, legal and social issues. The main concern is based on the assumption that a freely available service for sex selection will distort the natural sex ratio and lead to a severe gender imbalance. However, for a severe gender imbalance to happen, at least two conditions have to be met. First, there must be a significant preference for children of a particular sex, and second, there must be a considerable demand for preconception sex selection. To ascertain whether or not these two conditions are met, we have conducted a survey in Germany. METHODS: As a representative sample of the German population, 1094 men and women aged 18–45 years were asked about their gender preferences and whether or not they could imagine selecting the sex of their children through flow cytometric separation of X- and Y-bearing sperm followed by intrauterine insemination. RESULTS: 58% of respondents stated that they do not care about the sex of their offspring. 30% wish to have a family with an equal number of boys and girls. 4% would like to have more boys than girls, 3% more girls than boys, 1% only boys and 1% only girls. For first-borns, however, there is still a preference for boys over girls. While 75.6% claimed to have no gender preference, 14.2% would like their first child to be a boy and 10.1% would like their first child to be a girl. Whereas 6% could imagine taking advantage of preconception sex selection, 92% found this to be out of the question. Even in the hypothetical case that a medication for sex selection were ever to become available, 90% stated that they would not want to use it. CONCLUSION: Given that a majority does not seem to care about the sex of their offspring and only a minority seem to be willing to select the sex of their children, a freely available service for preconception sex selection for non-medical reasons is rather unlikely to cause a severe gender imbalance in Germany.
Key words: sex selection/sperm sorting/gender preferences/sex ratio distortion
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