Research opens the door for preimplantation genetic testing that enables sex selection and the deselection of disabilities.
Date: 1967
Over the course of a year of research conducted on rabbits, Robert Edwards and Richard Gardner discover that the sex of an embryo can be predetermined. This will become the basis for preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) for an embryo's diseases and disabilities. PGT will be conducted during in vitro fertilization (IVF) to determine both sex and/or "abnormal" chromosomes before embryos are transferred to the uterus.