Lavinia is 35 years old. She is married to Sebastian who is ayear younger than Lavinia. Lavinia and Sebastian are thrilled tohave two daughters. One is nine years old. The other is seven.
Lavinia and Sebastian were originally hoping to add a son totheir family, but they had mostly given up hope because they hadn’thad any luck conceiving again after their youngest daughter wasborn. And, they had stopped trying when Sebastian lost his jobbecause money is a bit tight.
Lavinia has recently discovered that she is pregnant. She andSebastian are excited that she might be carrying the son they havewanted in their family, but they are also stressed at the thoughtof having another mouth to feed.
When Lavinia met with her physician, she explained that she andher husband still desperately want a boy. Indeed, she expressedthat she wants to continue the pregnancy only if the physician cando tests and determine that the fetus she is carrying is male. Shehas made clear that she wants to terminate her pregnancy and thatshe will be requesting an abortion if the fetus is not male. Shehas made equally clear that she wants to terminate the pregnancyand that she will be requesting an abortion if her physician won’tdo the tests to identify the sex of the fetus.
Explore the ethics of sex selection involving abortion incontrast to sex selection involving preimplantation geneticdiagnosis (PGD) you are welcome to do this by considering whetherit would make a difference, in the case study, if Lavinia wereasking her physician to identify and implant only a male fetus tobegin her pregnancy.
