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How can sex selection before birth contribute to discrimination against girls?

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Marble portrait bust of Hippocrates atop a tall rectangular base inscribed with an epigram in Greek, displayed against a black background. — Bioethics A Roman bust of Hippocrates, copied from a Greek original, c. 3rd century bce; in the collection of the Antichità di Ostia, Italy.

In the context of bioethics and applied ethics, sex selection—often facilitated by preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD)—can contribute to discrimination against girls by reinforcing cultural preferences for male children.12

When sex selection is used to specifically obtain a "more desired" male child, it reflects and perpetuates societal biases that devalue female life. This practice can lead to significant demographic imbalances, as seen in countries where male children are preferred for economic, social, or religious reasons. Ethically, this is problematic because it treats the sex of a child as a commodity to be chosen rather than an inherent human characteristic, effectively signaling that girls are less valuable than boys.123

Furthermore, such preferences can exacerbate existing forms of discrimination. In some societies, this bias extends beyond birth, manifesting in the unequal allocation of resources, such as food and healthcare, which contributes to higher mortality rates for girls. By enabling the systematic exclusion of female embryos, sex selection technology risks institutionalizing these discriminatory attitudes, undermining the fundamental ethical principle of equality between genders.142