Church leaders yesterday condemned the recommendations of a Commons report that would allow parents to choose the sex of their baby.
As details emerged of the extent of the disagreements among the MPs on the Commons science and technology select committee over the report - said by one to be like creating "Frankenstein" babies - the Church of England and Roman Catholics claimed the work was deeply flawed.
The Catholic leader in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, said the authors had shown scant awareness that they were dealing with fundamental issues of respect for human life: "I am deeply alarmed at this utilitarian report ... we need a far broader public debate about these vital questions which touch on the very origin and sanctity of life."
Four Labour MPs and one Tory among the 10 members of the committee dissociated themselves from the report saying they had not been properly consulted.
The report suggests that parents who wish to "balance" their families should get the chance to decide the sex of their child, and that chimeras - mixing human and animal cells - should be legal so long as they are destroyed within 14 days and not implanted.
It says also that a total ban on reproductive cloning cannot be justified, that the requirement on fertility clinics to consider the potential child's welfare should be dropped, and that sperm and egg donors should be allowed to remain anonymous.
The committee members who were opposed to this report said that it ignored the dignity of human life.
Geraldine Smith, Labour MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale, said: "This is on a par with a Frankenstein report. It is outrageous. It cannot be taken seriously and has lost all credibility."
But the report was defended by the committee chairman, Ian Gibson, the Labour MP for Norwich North, who told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that couples wishing to choose the sex of their child would have to justify it very clearly.
He was supported by Lord Winston, the fertility expert, who said: "I think the number of people who would want to choose the sex of their baby, on clinical experience, is very small ... I don't think sex selection would change the balance of the population."
The cardinal called for the setting up of a national bio-ethics committee of health-care professionals, philosophers, theologians and others, to thrash out the ethical challenges arising from biotechnology and to advise parliament before any legislation.
The Church of England said the committee's divisions reflected the controversial issue.
The Right Reverend Tom Butler, Bishop of Southwark, said: "The Church of England would oppose strongly proposals that tend to erode proper priority for the welfare of the child ... From a Christian perspective the child is a gift from God and should always be regarded as an individual, not as an extension of parental consumer choice. Parents need to be left to accept their children just as they are, not be led into believing they can select children as they would a customised personal accessory."
