What gender selection involves

Moves to prevent couples being allowed to choose the sex of their baby for reasons other than medical concerns were welcomed today by doctors, fertility experts and ethical watchdogs.

  • A Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) report concludes that sex selection should only be used to avoid serious gender-linked disorders.

  • The authority says its research has shown that the vast majority of the public is opposed to people being allowed to choose whether they have a boy or girl for social or "family balancing" reasons.

  • At the moment, where the fresh sperm of a woman's partner is used for insemination, sperm sorting is not licensed or regulated by the HFEA.

  • But licensing is necessary for clinics offering IVF, sperm storage or preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) - where embryos are selected by sex before being returned to the mother.

  • In the US, MicroSort has the exclusive licence to be able to use sperm sorting for humans following the successful use of the technique on animals.

  • In clinical trials hundreds of sheep and cattle over three generations have been bred using this method and the company's clinic in Virginia says the oldest child born using it is now seven years old.

  • Sex selection is possible at three stages - by abortion, through sperm sorting prior to conception and before an embryo created through IVF is transferred to a woman.

  • The HFEA will give its advice to the Government but any policy change will have to be decided by Parliament.

  • There have been reports of British couples going overseas for sex selection treatments.

  • The full report is available at the HFEA's website www.hfea.gov.uk.

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