Can We Choose the Sex of Our Baby?

Can we choose the sex of our baby?

Choosing the sex of your IVF baby is possible, but not everywhere or in every case…

Reasons for choosing your baby’s gender?

There may be a number of reasons why you are considering IVF treatment, just like there are a number of reasons why you may wish to select your child’s gender.

Some common reasons are:

• Medical based – perhaps there is a genetic illness running in the family associated with a particular sex making gender selection the safest option.
• Non-medical based – you may already have more than one child of a particular sex, for example you might have two sons and desire a daughter (this is classed as family balancing).

If you have difficulties falling pregnant and want to discuss these issues contact Dr Ale Polyakov.

Is it simple to choose the baby’s sex?

Nothing is ‘that simple’ when an element of ethics is involved, which is why some places and countries do not offer gender selection.

For example India has a high incidence of female genocide so even asking for the sex of the baby during a normal pregnancy is forbidden.  Also, many clinics will not offer gender selection to first time parents. In Australia it is not a legal service. Therefore any treatment undertaken in Australia cannot be for gender selection for non-medical reasons.

How is gender selection done?

Sex selection is only possible when you have embryos (as neither the egg nor sperm can be definitively tested) which is why gender selection is only possible via IVF.

In cases of medical based choice it is possible to undertake pre-implantation genetic screening /diagnosis of the embryos. These tests can assess if a risk associated with hereditary disease is evidenced in the embryos. Sex can also be assessed. At-risk embryos may be discarded.

How successful are sex selection techniques?

There will always be an element of risk in any procedure and no tests are 100% foolproof. However with a combination of IVF and the pre-implantation screening/tests the results are extremely accurate with an approximate 99% success rate!

Find out what we can do to help you in your IVF journey. Contact us now.