Remember the old days when you were told to eat bananas before getting pregnant if you wanted a boy and sweets for a girl? It was kind of a silly yet hopefully fun thing to try and the results were always a surprise. Well now you can choose the sex of your baby with nearly 90-100% accuracy. Yet this idea is so controversial, it took nine years before research was even allowed to delve into the possibilities. Genetic Researchers, that is. There are plenty of sperm targeting techniques on the market right now:
- MicorSort - via use of a dye the female sperm and male sperm are separated, then the specified gender is inserted into the uterus via artificial insemination. This method is 90% effective for choosing a girl, 74% for choosing a boy.
- Ericsson - apparently male oriented sperm swim faster than female oriented sperm. Again, the chosen sperm are inserted via artificial insemination. This technique is 78 to 85% effective for boys and 73 to 75% effective for girls.
- Shettles - intercourse on specific days of he woman’s cycle. Shettles agrees that male oriented sperm move faster than female, but adds that male sperm don’t live as long as female. So for a boy, have sex as close as possible to ovulation. For a girl, have sex two to four days before you ovulate. This technique effectiveness is disputed between 50% and 75% accuracy. But don’t you always have a 50/50 chance of a boy or girl anyway?
The last and most controversial method is pre-implantation genetic diagnosis. This technique uses invitro fertilization which is when embryos are created outside the womb,i.e. test tube babies. These embryos are then tested for genetic disorders and gender. This procedure is nearly 100% effective. But so we really want to enter this realm of genetic selection? What’s next? Eye color, hair color, height, weight, intelligence?
Well the upside of this procedure is a 100 percent certainty that you’ll have a baby of your desired gender, embryos are automatically frozen and can be used later. Downside, the cost is nearly $20,000, only 43% of IVF cycles result in a live birth but their is a higher success rate with this procedure due to the fact that defective embryos are removed, lastly what do you do with the frozen left over embryos?
Some interesting facts:
- Most fertility clinics that use this procedure won’t allow it unless there is a valid medical history of genetic diseases or repeated miscarriages, unless the mother is over 38 years of age.
- This is as “social sex selection,” and it’s banned in Britain and Canada.
- It’s opposed by major medical organizations in the United States.
- The University of Illinois, Chicago released documentation that 59 percent of women would not use sex selection even if it were free.
- You could be ineligible unless you’re married AND already have one child of the opposite sex you are asking for.
As a society it’s up to us to make sure our scientific knowledge does not delve too deeply toward a path that could lead to immoral and unethical procedures or experiments. Is choosing the sex of your child so important that it’s okay to risk further research into genetically making choices that are better left to God? That’s something each person has to answer themselves. Science is awesome! Artificial insemination and invetro fertilization is bringing happiness to many families that would otherwise never be able to have their own children. But let’s not forget the simple rule- just because we can, doesn’t mean we should. Personally, I like the birth day gender surprise, although I admit that with my last child I had an amnio and found out it was a girl ahead of time. That was also awesome!
