The internet was ablaze last week with the news that health authorities in Western Australia have given approval for IVF clinics to ‘screen’ embryos to reduce the chances of a couple having a child with autism.
The Reproductive Technology Council will now allow certain women undergoing IVF treatment to be selectively implanted with female embryos only.
The rationale for this practice is that autism is more likely to affect males than females (approximately 4 males for every 1 female), and by selecting female embryos, the chances of this child developing autism are reduced.
The West Australian reported that: “only families at high risk of having a child with autism, such as families who already have two boys with severe autism, would be considered for embryo screening”.
The reaction to this report was swift and furious, and came from all corners of the globe.
Some were concerned about the science underpinning this approach, and pointed to recent evidence that autism may be under-diagnosed in females, and that the gender imbalance in autism may not be as skewed towards males as we once thought. These critics argue that the selective implantation of female embryos may not actually reduce the chances of a child developing autism.
Others opted for a more extreme attack on health professionals and families, branding the developments as eugenicist – a scientific discipline that advocates practises that are aimed at improving a population’s gene pool. The connotation of this label is a deeply negative one, and will be forever linked to Nazi regime, who used eugenics as a justification for the genocide of Jews, Gypies, homosexuals and others during World War II.