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| Sex Selection |
Gender
selection (sex selection) is the process of choosing the gender of a couple’s
baby before pregnancy. In order to make gender selection possible, the couple
has to go through IVF treatment. In vitro ferilization treatment is the fertilization of eggs
with sperm in a laboratory environment outside the human body. During this
treatment, the female ovaries are stimulated to produce as many eggs as
possible for the Oocyte Pick Up (OPU) phase. On the OPU day, all the healthy eggs
collected from the female are fertilized with the partner’s sperm to create
embryos. The embryos are then kept in incubators simulating the human body. The
progress of the embryos is observed for 5 days and on the 5th day,
the healthy embryos go through genetic testing.
During
this genetic testing, chromosome analysis is performed. One of the chromosomes analysed
is the XY chromosome. By looking at the XY chromosome, the gender of the embryo
can be determined. Only the embryos with the desired gender are then transferred
back to the female once the gender of the embryos are known. After the embryo transfer
is performed, pregnancy develops normally. In most cases, in addition to the XY
chromosome, several other chromosomes are checked to determine if the embryo
has any genetic disease like Down’s syndrome or Trisomy. Currently the gender
determination screenings have a success rate of 99.9% which make it a very
attractive procedure for couples wishing to choose the gender of their baby.
Gender selection is more popular in some cultures than others where there is a strong
preference for a specific gender. However, many couples also do gender
selection for family balancing purposes. Regulations regarding gender selection
vary between countries. Most countries only allow it for medical
reasons (i.e. due to some hereditary disease that passes only to a specific
gender).
Gender
selection before implantation of the embryo back to the female has the added
benefit of avoiding abortions when the mother is not pregnant with the desired
gender.
Only
a select few countries in the world freely allow this method causing many
couples to travel for this treatment. With the success rates at good clinics
being at such high rates and the cost becoming more and more affordable,
travelling for gender selection treatment is becoming more and more common.
