I agree with your post Sharne but I have not seen anyone post who was so gender specific that it would make me raise my eyebrow. Before I begin - sorry if I offend anyone as this is a very sensitive subject.
I feel this is about "I want or I would like" as opposed to I need
and there is a very big difference in this.
Someone rightly did quote that places in the east like china or other countries where the wrong gender is aborted and this is why in the NHS hospitals some areas do refuse to tell the gender of the baby - in fear of something similar taking place. Perhaps a survey of those areas might have shown some larger abortion rates after scans or a little around 20 weeks. So it does happen and it is very very sad. I have an older sister, my dad really wanted a boy when I was born, though he was not disappointed but he always gave me that little extra freedom than my sister because I did all the boy chores - so yes a little bit of a tomboy with habits but that was my choice. Internaly he raised me a little like a boy but thats ok, if I raise my son a little girlish or a girl little boyish I do play a heavy part in the grooming but I am certain giving a male some feminity and a girl some masculinity is only going to help them in life. It certainly helped me 
We want healthy babies, I was not bothered what the sex was but my DH had a preference to have an older boy- we would like to have 2 and we would LIKE to have one of each but we dont NEED to have 1 of each. So if there are 2 of the same sex - oh wonderful but I cannot squash my feelings of playing with a boy and playing with a girl, raising them up and experiencing the beauty of raising both sexes. It is similarly compared to other sensitive subjects like:
-I am a vegetarian. Other vegetarians make very harsh comments on those that eat meat saying it is killing a being but in our society that is seen both as sensitive and ridiciulous it is just the way we view it.
-Those that have had miscarriages (I have and it is heartbreaking) and there are those trying for a baby for years
.then there are those that are having abortions because they simply did not take precaution one drunken Friday night.
-I would like a new pair of shoes and spend enough on it but the same amount of money would feed a family of 4 for a week in a third world country. I want it but I dont need it.
-I would like to lose weight by going on a controled diet I have that desire but the ones that are starving would love to have that extra bit of food on my plate which I am not having.
-I would like to have a girl or a boy but I forget about those that cannot conceive.
-I would lik to change my car and buy something which is £5000 more expensive but I dont need it. My older car takes me from Point A to B.
I is subjective. However, we all know that when we have choices in life we have desire to express them and fulfill them if we can. If I know I can only have one meal a day then I dont care what the content of that meal is, as long as it fills me up. If I know I cannot conceive then I would be just grateful to god That he gave me a little one. Someone with terminal illness cannot understand someone who stays in bed till midday and does not do anything productive for the first half of the day.
We are humans and this is why, what we dont have we always wonder how the person on the other side who has it cannot appreciate that but it is not always that way. I agree with you Sharne but I also feel that wanting something is very different to needing something and if someone has gender preference it is not to feel guilty about we all have many many other areas in our lives that we could live feeling guilty everyday and every hour
but then the world would be a saintly place and we all know that is not happening.
Applaud for such a great topic. I agree with you to an extent but I also wanted to see things from the other side. This is our first baby and we thank god everyday, we conceived pretty quickly but after the miscarriage which I had never contemplated it would happen was not only a shock but a reality check..after that for 1 month my life was all about I want a baby. So I can only just imagine how others who have been trying for years must feel .
Gender disappointment happens and it is unfortunate if it affects someone's life so much that it can affect a child's upbringing...but it could also be because the experience of the difficult side of the coin has not occurred and this happens in various chapters of life.
Sorry this is so long