15 Morningside Road, Edinburgh EH10 4DP, Tel: 0131 447 6394 or 0774 298 4459
11 November 2003
The Scottish Council on Human Bioethics (SCHB) indicated with respect to the report on sex selection published today by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) that gender selection for non-medical reasons breaches European Law.
Indeed, Article 14 (Non-selection of sex) of the European Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine1 states that:
The use of techniques of medically assisted procreation shall not be allowed for the purpose of choosing a future child's sex, except where serious hereditary sex-related disease is to be avoided.
Dr. Calum MacKellar, Director of Research of the SCHB, indicated that “it would be unfortunate for the UK to go it alone and permit sex selection when the majority of European countries are against such a technique”, adding that “the technique where embryos are created through IVF and then screened for the ‘right’ sex would cause grave ethical problems in the UK”.
On the 28th of October 2003, the United Nations published a report entitled "Missing" showing a shocking decline in the number of girls compared to boys in India during the last decade due to the elimination of girls by sex-selective abortion and infanticide. http://www.unfpa.org/news/news.cfm?ID=388
On the 3rd of November 2003, a UK mother gave birth to twin girls who were selected for their gender in Spain using a procedure which is prohibited in the UK. Indeed, over the past 5 years more than 100 couples from the UK have gone to Spain and the US to select the sex of embryos created through IVF which gives a near 100% certainty of obtaining the right gender.2 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/3236385.stm
Note: The Scottish Council on Human Bioethics was formed in 1997 as an independent, non-partisan council composed of physicians, lawyers, psychologists, ethicists and other professionals from disciplines associated with medical ethics. The principles to which the SCHB subscribes are set out in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted and proclaimed by the UN General Assembly by resolution 217A (III) on 10 December 1948.
Contact: Dr. Calum MacKellar, Scottish Council on Human Bioethics, Eric Liddell Centre, 15 Morningside Road, Edinburgh EH10 4DP, Tel: 0131 447 6394, e-mail Calum.MacKellar@schb.org.uk
1 Amongst the 45 member States of the Council of Europe, 31 countries (and not the UK) have signed this Convention.
2 This procedure is not possible in the UK since the HFEA would only give a sex selection license for medical reasons (avoidance of serious sex-linked conditions).