Poll: Gender choice should not be option

MELBOURNE, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- Most Australians say selecting a baby's gender -- either through in vitro fertilization or abortion -- should not be legal.

Researchers led by Rebecca Kippen of the School of Population Health at the University of Melbourne, Australia, say their survey indicates 69 percent of Australian do not approve of in vitro fertilization for sex-selection purposes, and 80 percent were against abortion for that purpose. Only 11 percent thought a hypothetical blue or pink pill to select the sex of a child should be legal.

"Opposition to these technologies was grounded in three major concerns: The potential for distorted sex ratios; that sex selection can be an expression of gender bias; and a concern about 'designer infants' being created, when parents should be happy with a healthy baby," Kippen says in a statement.

Previous research, Kippen notes, indicated Australian parents want a balanced family -- a family with at least one son and one daughter.

In 2011, there will be a review of 2004 guidelines -- which have the force of law -- that ban sex selection except to reduce the risk of a serious genetic condition.

The study, published online in Fertility and Sterility, analyzed responses from 2,500 people participating in the Australian Survey of Social Attitudes, combined with a series of in-depth parental interviews.