Lads or Lasses
The British go for sex selection.

...Sex selection pits the individual interest?"I've always wanted a little girl!"?against the collective interest in a population that's roughly balanced between men and women. If there were no regulation, price barrier, or social convention to hold prospective parents in check, for a lot of us the temptation to rig the sperm bet for the sex of one's choice might be enormous. And by discounting evidence of collective harm, the parliamentary committee is further tempting parents. That's not surprising, given the committee's predilection in favor of individual autonomy and against government intrusion. Rather than proceeding only when there is solid evidence of no harm, the committee put technological advancement first. "Alleged harms to society or to patients need to be demonstrated before forward progress is unduly impeded," the report urges.

None of this leaves a lot of room for what might seem an obvious starting point for a discussion about the ethics of sex selection?whether rejiggering nature in this way offends a core principle of human dignity. "Increasingly, children are seen as the object of 'consumer choices,' rather than as new human beings to be accepted unconditionally," the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales bleat, but the committee disregards their warning. ...

I don't have the "slippery slope" feeling about this in countries that have no population control programs. In India and China, there is a preference for boys because of limits on the number of children. So long as the government isn't involved in promoting one gender over another, I don't think one would see dramatic changes in the male:female ratio like in those countries. I am a bit surprised that 79% of those choosing gender in that US clinic go for females. I wonder how many of those already have a boy?

Evie