Parenthood is about welcoming the children you are given rather than "ordering" them to specifications, the New Zealand Catholic Bioethics Centre says.
A Bioethics Council report - titled Who Gets Born? - was presented to the Government today and says the sex of embryos created outside the mother's body, under programmes such as IVF (in vitro fertilisation), should be chosen by parents, allowing them to gender-balance their families.
Michael McCabe and John Kleinsman of the Catholic Bioethics Centre said the report had made a "genuine attempt" to listen to a wide range of views, including those of the Catholic community.
"From a Catholic perspective all embryos are equal and deserve unconditional respect...Our role, as parents, is to welcome our children in an unconditional way."
Dr McCabe and Mr Kleinsman said the report made it clear people were uneasy about the possibility of parents using genetic tests for social reasons but then "inexplicably recommends that there are insufficient reasons to ban it."
"The proper role of pre-birth testing is to help the parents to prepare the best way they can for their new child or to enable medical interventions that are aimed at the well-being of the child in-utero, not to eliminate certain types of children."
If the recommendations of the report were introduced we would be moving towards a less inclusive society, marginalising society's most vulnerable members -- the unborn and disabled, they said.
Associate Minister for the Environment Nanaia Mahuta said ministers would consider the report's recommendations. A timeline had not been set.
"There's already been widespread debate about the issues raised in the report so we will just let time take its course -- but the important thing is that the Bioethics Council has gone through a process to be able to present the issues and we will consider those issues and recommendations," Ms Mahuta told reporters this afternoon.
She expected strong debate.
"There will be some tussle between individual responsibility, the responsibility of parents vis a vis the rights associated with the embryo -- I think that's where most of the debate will be pitched."
The council's recommendation relates specifically to pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD.
That is when embryos are created outside a mother's womb so they can be tested for likely inherited genetic conditions.
Under laws introduced in 2004, sex selection is banned except where it is part of treatment for a genetic disorder or disease.
It is also banned in Australia and the United Kingdom, but is allowed in the United States.
Penalties for breaches are jail terms of up to five years or a fine of up to $200,000.
Bioethics Council chairman Associate Professor Martin Wilkinson said the feeling of the council and the feedback it had received in writing the report was key decisions like gender should be left to parents.
"Ultimately decisions should be made by parents." The report also says research should be done into using embryos created in pre-birth testing to help sick siblings.
Currently that can be done for sick siblings with an inherited disorder, but it is not allowed for other disorders.
The report says that distinction should be removed.
The council, an independent body, spent a year gathering the views of more than 700 people for the report. It says the recommendations are its view, but also reflect the wishes of those who took part in the research.
