The twenty-first century presents the human race with unprecedented challenges to human dignity and the sacredness of human life. Respect for human life and an affirmation of human dignity are inseparable. Where human life is not respected as a sacred gift, life itself will be debased and devalued–and eventually it will be negotiated away by the culture of death.

There has never been a more dangerous time to be a human embryo. Threats to the embryo’s survival include stem-cell research, experiments in human cloning, and recent developments in the science of selecting a baby’s sex. In an age without bioethical boundaries, the embryo has real enemies.

Do you want girl or a boy? Throughout human history, expectant couples have been asked that question. Now, the question comes with a new twist–advanced technologies that can actually come close to guaranteeing a child of a specific gender. But this technology comes at an unacceptably high moral cost.