OK. Do you think a couple should be able choose between having a daughter or son?

[HeiressofBickworth]

29. It's difficult

On the one hand, I don't understand the preference for one gender over another. It's not like India or Asia where a female represents a dowry that a family may not be able to pay whereas a male when he marries brings a dowry to the family (my mantra -- follow the money). So excluding any monetary issue, then what is the issue? Men pounding their chests proclaiming to the world that they can produce a son? Women swooning over their perfect man-child? Both sound like pure vanity to me.

There can be other gender-related issues, however. Some genetic conditions are passed by one gender. I can understand parents not wanting to put a child through a short painful existence.

On the other hand, I'm pro-choice. That means that I believe the woman has the choice of what to do about her reproductive circumstances. Pro-choice means just that -- everyone gets to chose for themselves.