Sex Selection from a Religious and Moral Point of View by Dr Ali Fanaei, Dr Elham Farahani, and Ms Arefeh Sadat Hosseininejad

Dr Ali Fanaei, Dr Elham Farahani, Ms Arefeh Sadat Hosseininejad (Al Mahdi Institute, Mofid University)

The impressive advances in science and technology in the modern world have dramatically increased the freedom of humans to make decisions and their power to control nature. Since humans are free and responsible agents, it is reasonable and meaningful to expect religion and ethics to have something to say about the way in which humans conquer nature with the help of modern science and technology. Religious and moral teachings are normative — which

means religion and ethics are both action-guiding — and the more the power of humans to control nature and their scope of abilities increases, the more they will need practical guidance.

One of the fields that modern science and technology have made possible for humans to control and intervene in is determining the sex of a foetus before pregnancy, which is called preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). In this method, X and Y sperms are separated from each other and several embryos with different sexes are produced in a laboratory environment using the sperms. The embryo with the desired sex is then transferred to the mother's womb.

This method can be used for two different purposes: One is preventing the birth of babies who suffer from disorders of sex development, and the other is choosing the sex of the baby by the parents or the government. It is clear that using this method, for whichever purpose, is important and challenging from a religious and moral point of view, regardless of the personal and social consequences resulting from it. This article attempts to first formulate the religious and moral questions regarding this issue, and then critically analyse and evaluate the answers that have been or can be provided using religious and moral arguments about the permissibility or prohibition of using this technology in determining the sex of the foetus.