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Originally Posted by larryjf  Just because somebody wants something doesn't mean they should have it.
If a family wants to be balanced and have equal girls and boys, does that mean that they should have a balanced family? |
No, but that’s not my position. My position is that they should have the right to choose to do so. Unless somebody offers good arguments for why they shouldn’t have that right, and it should be illegalized. I have not seen any good arguments for such a position in this thread (at least for countries where a government doesn’t take a totalitarian stance on gender).
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Originally Posted by larryjf What if after they have the family they change their minds on the importance of balance? |
I fail to see how this is an argument against sex selection.
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Originally Posted by larryjf We are not omniscient so we have no way of telling what our future holds. If we choose to have only girls because we live in a culture that looks down on boys...what would happen if in the near future we move to a culture that looks down on girls? Then our whole argument for choosing the gender is thrown out the window. |
In many cases of sex selection, it is for the purposes of “family balancing”. Besides, I am merely defending the claim that sex selection should not be made illegal.
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Originally Posted by larryjf Say we think a balanced family is the way to go because we think children will end up better socially acclimated. And later studies come out that prove they do worse socially. Once again our reasons for choosing are thrown out the window. |
Most of your hypotheticals are instances where the parents choose sex selection for reason x, and later x turns out not to be the case. But this is a simplistic view of sex selection. Parents choose sex selection for many different reasons, and it hardly seems to be the case on the face of it that all of these reasons will turn out to be false. Perhaps they want to have a boy to carry on the family name, and they already have 3 daughters. They still love their daughters, and such a choice says nothing about superiority one way or the other.
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Originally Posted by Augusta It is when people move in on manipulating the birth process that I believe they are overstepping their bounds. |
If a person is not being harmed, then how are they overstepping their bounds?
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Originally Posted by CarolinaCalvinist All I've seen so far is people make good cases that sex selection can be used for sinful reasons. That doesn't make it inherently sinful. Let's not teach the doctrines of men as the commandments of God. |
Yes, the reasoning is that because ‘X’ can be used for sinful reasons, ‘X’ should be made illegal. Which doesn’t really follow.
I think Rich’s argument is the best, but that only holds water in places with severe pressure on selecting a certain gender. In the US at least this is not a problem.