Thanks to modern screening and embryo genetic testing during in vitro fertilization (IVF), a fertility doctor can determine the gender of a child before the implantation process. Often referred to as “gender selection”, IVF sex selection is a process where embryos are selected by their sex chromosomes during an IVF cycle to produce a male or female offspring, according to the wishes of the parents.
Why Use Gender Selection?
Gender selection is often used by families who are concerned about passing on an inheritable condition that is gender-specific. In these cases, doctors can guarantee that you will end up with a healthy baby girl or boy depending on the type of disorder. Gender selection is also sometimes performed for social reasons, such as the desire to balance a family or have a child of a specific sex. Whether the reason is medical or elective, the success rates for gender selection are extremely high using IVF with preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) or preimplantation genetic screening (PGS).
Who can choose their baby's gender?
If you don't have fertility issues, to begin with, you wouldn't be eligible for IVF simply for gender selection. And even with IVF, the screening procedure which reveals the gender of embryos is an extra step costing up to $5,000.
How does gender selection work with IVF?
Once the embryos are created in vitro; they are screened to choose the healthiest ones to implant into the mother’s womb by the gynecologist. The sex or gender of the baby is determined by two chromosomes known collectively as the Sex Chromosomes. Egg cells from the female always carry an X chromosome while male sperm carries either an X or a Y chromosome. If a sperm with an X chromosome meets the mother’s egg, then the resulting embryo and baby will be a girl with an XX chromosome.
If a sperm with a Y chromosome fertilizes the woman’s egg cell, then the resulting child will be a boy with an XY chromosome. Making it a 50/50 chance between a boy and a girl baby being conceived naturally. Therefore, to determine the sex of your future child, you must be able to accurately select a sperm that contains a Y Chromosome or an embryo that has XY chromosomes. The embryo is then frozen so that the biopsied cells can be evaluated. Once the embryologist has identified an embryo of the desired sex, the embryo will be thawed and readied for transfer. As for any remaining embryos, families have the option of storing them for future cycles or donating them.
How Accurate is Gender Selection During IVF?
100% accurate! Since your doctor will identify XX or XY chromosomes in the embryo with PGD tests, the gender selection process is completely accurate. However, not all patients can produce healthy embryos of the desired gender because of factors related to age, egg supply, and sperm quality. In these cases, sperm or egg donation is a possibility for intended parents who wish to pursue gender selection.
Detailed Steps of IVF Gender Selection
Because accurate gender selection requires In Vitro Fertilization, it’s important to understand at least at a basic level, what the whole process will entail. In general, IVF has 4 main steps:
Ovarian Stimulation: The woman takes hormone-based medications to make many high-quality fully developed eggs (as opposed to the one that is usually made).
Egg Retrieval: Removes the eggs from the ovaries.
The Embryology Laboratory: Fertilization of the eggs, embryo development for 3-7 days
Embryo Transfer: An embryo transfer is the process of putting an embryo back into the intended parent’s uterus.
Because gender selection requires additional embryonic testing (which takes several days to get the results from) it not only requires additional steps specific to the testing of the embryos, but it also requires two “treatment cycles.” One involves the making and testing of the embryos and the other, a Frozen Embryo Transfer Cycle involves the preparation of the uterus for transfer and the FET itself.
Ethical Considerations of sex selection
Selecting a child’s sex for medical reasons presents no ethical considerations, but doing it for family balancing, and cultural or personal preferences can bring up concerns for some people. There’s also the ethical concern of what to do with unused embryos of the opposite sex – for example, if a couple wanted a boy but only had female embryos, or if a couple has several embryos of both sexes but only wants a girl. The options for unused embryos are to store them for future personal use in pregnancy, donate them to another couple in need of a healthy embryo, donate the embryos for scientific research, or discard the unwanted embryos.
Conclusion
Gender selection with In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) is a scientific advancement that allows prospective parents to choose the sex of their future child with near 100% accuracy. This process involves the use of Preimplantation Genetic Testing (PGT) during IVF, which examines an embryo’s sex chromosomes. While gender selection can fulfill the desires of parents for various reasons, including family balancing and prevention of sex-linked genetic disorders, it is not without controversy. Some argue that it might lead to the selection of other traits, like eye color, hair color, and height.
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