What is your opinion on this?

i think they need to be carted to the nearest inpatient psychiatric facility. furthermore, they should turned down by every reproductive endocrinologist in the developed world and DENIED the right to snatch an innocent little girl from their homeland.

"so desperately wanted a girl..." kiss my as$!

and people believe that ART and adoption is not about consumerism...

had any parent who conceived "the ole fashion way" pulled this, every ANTI-CHOICE advocate would climb out of the woodwork with posters of aborted fetuses, screaming "murder."

personally, i NEVER had a preference for my children... and believe those who do are a bit selfish. when i was pregnant, i wanted to love THEM; despite having a penis or vagina. anyone who breeds for gender (naturally or ART) gets a big "thumbs down" from me.

sorry folks.

First question: What do you personally think about this couple aborting because the babies were male?

I think it is extrodinarily sad that they would end the lives of their two sons in a futile attempt to replace the daughter they lost. Even if they did win this fight to choose the gender of their next child, that girl will not be the daughter they lost.

Second question: Do you think that they should be allowed gender selection procedures. even though gender selection is illegal here except under certain, very narrow, circumstances? Do you think the rules should be bent for this couple to prevent the aborting more male pregnancies?

Third question: Do you think that instead, as suggested in the article, they should simply adopt a girl, bearing in mind that in Australia it is very difficult to adopt a newborn at all?

My answer to the second and third question is essentially the same. No, I don't think the rules should be bent to make an exception. Exceptions created other exceptions until you have a set of laws/rules that are so diluted that they are meaningless.

And personally, I don't think they should be more rules in place that prohibt anyone who has lost a child from having IVF within a certain period of time. These people are obviously not in a a place of acceptance and healing and placing any child, biological or adoptive,in their home is not in the best interest of the child or parents. They need to go to therapy and deal with their grief issues. If not, then this future daughter is NEVER going to be good enough. She will grow up being haunted (no pun intended) by the ghost of her sister.

I do believe it is a woman's choice for an abortion - BUT I am highly against them continuing to have unprotected sex, waiting to find out if the baby is male or female, then aborting because they were having a boy. Abortion is not a form of birth control, or to stop from having a baby they knowingly tried to conceive.

I want a daughter badly. If I could afford to have another baby I would ASAP. If I had another boy, I would try for a girl one more time, if i had another boy, I would stop. I would be happy with the three boys I (theoretically) have. I would always want a daughter, but I would not go as far as gender selection. I don't believe anyone should be able too except there are those rare circumstances that allow it as you said.

I do not think these people should adopt under any circumstances. They would be adopting for very very selfish reasons. If I was unable to have a girl as I want, I would not specify a girl. I plan on being a foster parent once I am done with college, bridge to an RN and work for a few years - which I have wanted to do long before I wanted a girl. If I fostered all boys, I would be just as happy.

I would definitely adopt some female rescue dogs though, and by them clothes and hair bows & lots of pink =)

1. Personally, I don't -like- abortion, but I recognize that it is sometimes necessary. I -really- don't like it when abortion is used like birth control and I REALLY think that abortion for sex selection is abhorrent. Problem is, you really can't ask -why- someone is having an abortion and then allow or deny the procedure based upon the answer you get. It's a legal procedure, even if I think what this couple did is abhorrent.

2. No, I don't think rules should be bent for them. This couple doesn't sound like they are wanting a daughter so much as they are wanting THEIR daughter BACK. People have said on this forum that children shouldn't be adopted to fill a void in an adult's life and I agree, but that statement is equally true for people who are having babies. It's tragic what happened to their daughter. But I pity any child born to replace another.

3. Adoption? Of course not. They are still grieving the death of their daughter so much that I don't think they should be trying to have any more children at all, much less adopting a daughter.

ETA: After thinking about this a little further, I'm also wondering how much responsibility the in-vitro clinic doctors are shirking by allowing this to go on. The medical professionals do have some ethical obligations here.

This is so disgusting. Abortion is always horrible but this is just too far. I thought that abortion was only supposed to happen if it posed a danger to the mother's physical/mental health? Or is that only in the UK? Either way I do not think this couple deserve to be parents. I couldn't raise a child knowing that I'd killed their sibling for something as pathetic as gender. From what the article says they're just trying to replace a daughter that died. That is so wrong, they need to come to terms with the death of their child before trying again, children cannot just be replaced. Any daughter they do have will how be under pressure to fill the other daughter's place. So sad. I truly hope they do not have any more children, either naturally or through adoption. It's not healthy for their family. What are they going to do, send the girl back if she's not enough like their first daughter?

Babies are already treated like a product in the adoption industry, now it seems that they are products even for parents having them naturally. Children should not be commodities to be designed. What's next - choosing hair colour? Skin tone? It's reminiscent of Hitler trying to create a 'perfect' race.

First question:

I'm sickened by the whole thing. The loss of a child is tragic but this couple are really over the edge with trying to conceive another daughter to the point of assisted fertility and sex-selective abortion. It's also wrong to adopt to replace a child you lost.

They really don't need to bring another child into their mess, by conception or adoption.

Second question:

Australia is a country of laws and your laws seem clear enough that assisted fertility does not include sex-selection except to prevent genetic disorders from being transmitted.

Presumably the couple was well aware of this. Why should they be an exception so they won't have sex-selective abortions? That's outrageous.

Third question:

No, I don't think they should simply adopt a girl! They shouldn't adopt a girl of any age given their state of mind. It would be unethical to permit it and I should hope that they would not be able to.

You can remember who you love and go on to have others in your life who you will also love. People may get new pets, people who are widowed may remarry, and people whose child died certainly may have another child. But you don't do that to "replace" family you lost, including the cat!

I just don't understand these people at all and think they are very disturbed, to say the least.

I feel sorry for their three sons.

Unfortunately, gender selection has been popular since ultra sound came out. People have and are doing this all over the world even if it is illegal. To answer your questions...

1. I do not agree on gender selection, it is and should be illegal.

2. No, they should not be allowed gender selection procedures.

3. No, I do not think adoption is an option for this couple. Adoption is not for everyone and should not be a fallback for this type of situation. How is it that they plan on discarding the adopted child if it doesn't meet their expectations or criteria?

The abortion aside - this woman is in for a rude awakening! You can not replace lost children. That's what she's trying to do. She will inflict massive damage on the poor little girl, because once she's born her mother will realize she's not the one that was lost. How she deals with it will be the difference, but that poor little girl will probably always know she's the one who 'replaced' the perfect daughter (because trust me, by now in her mind the first daughter is perfect and the next one definitely will not be so).

Not to mention what she's doing to her boys. "Sure, I love you, but you're just - not - good enough". What she's doing is horrible.

She needs intense therapy. Her poor children.

I was shocked by this article. Women abort for many reasons but aborting because they wanted a girl to take the place of the daughter that died was just awful.

1. That's really really sad. I'm pro choice, but this kind of thing just makes me feel sick. Most people would be thrilled to have twins. That's really just disturbing.

2. Sure, if it keeps them from being cruel to the child, who might be seen as a disappointment.

3. Adopt! It might be difficult, but not impossible... well, maybe it is now that they've made a big spectacle of their selective parenting. That's just sad.