Everything You Need to Know about Gender Selection

Advanced technologies such as preimplantation genetic screening and preimplantation genetic diagnosis provide hopeful parents the thrilling option to choose the gender of their future child(ren) while in vitro fertilization. When done alongside in vitro fertilization (IVF), selection for preconception gender allows aspiring parents to know how to have a baby boy or girl prior to conception, or before the viable embryo is transferred into the womb for implantation. After unviable embryos have been separated, parents may also choose their baby’s sex by identifying a specific-sex embryo(s) for implantation into the uterus via IVF. In this scenario, the choice of sex gives the intended parents a choice to carry either a girl or boy, depending onwhat types of disorders the intended parents can avoid in their IVF procedures.

In simple terms, gender-balancing means if you always wanted a girl, but have only had sons, your intended parents could choose a gender during the IVF process, to make sure that you are allowed to have a baby girl. Obviously, the health and well-being of the child-to-be is a parent’s top concern, but couples who are going through IVF because of an infertility problem are allowed to choose a particular gender instead. It is even possible that a couple who does not have an infertility issue would like to undergo IVF gender selection Australia.

These current IVF patients, as well as past patients who have eggs or embryos in cryostorage for a future pregnancy, may also want to consider sex selection. This is an added benefit that comes from the genetic assessment of embryos. Parents can expect to have nearly 99-100% success in determining a child’s sex through PGT-assisted IVF. Conducting gender selection through PGT and IVF results in transferring the embryos of the desired sex with more than 99.9% precision. PGS, or Preimplantation Genetic Screening allows our highly trained IVF laboratory staff to select and transfer only embryos of the desired sex who are genetically healthy.

Cells from your embryo are then tested using PGS, a genetic screening procedure that allows our fertility center in Virginia to identify whether one of your embryos is male (X chromosomes and one Y chromosome) or female (two X chromosomes). By screening all the chromosomes, the team at EuroCARE IVF is able to determine the embryos gender (S) as well, based on a sex pair of chromosomes (XX and XY). Then, after analysing both genetic material and the sex chromosomes of each embryo with the help of a high-powered microscope, the highest-quality embryos of the desired sex are transferred into the womb for implantation.

To carry out gender selection through PGD, the embryologist uses a microscopic glass needle to gently extract a single cell from each viable embryo created during the IVF process. At Life IVF, fertilized eggs are biopsied at blastocyst stage for genetic test/screening using Preimplantation Genetic Testing (PGS) to ensure a safe outcome and greater success in the implant. Whether the reason for the selection of the sex is medical or for selection, the success rates of sex selection are extremely high using IVF with either Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) or Preimplantation Genetic Screening (PGS/PGT-A).

One such clinic is one of the most well-known clinics worldwide for the technique for sex selection known as preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), an optional screening offered alongside IVF. Because PGD can conclusively identify what sex chromosomes are present in the embryo, the accuracy of PGD is greater than 99%, making it the most accurate gender-selection technique available today. Given a fertility doctors ability to determine whether an embryo has an XX or an XY chromosome using a PGD test, the gender selection process is nearly 100 percent accurate.

Using PGD to choose the best embryos is obviously superior to the traditional methods of selection. Of note, selection by sex with a PGD before implanting is still subject to later in vitro fertilization, and perhaps also PGD, to achieve 100% precision. We are experienced with all of the techniques used to select your sex, including Sperm Spining (the act of breaking the sperm down into the X and Y chromosomes), but pairing IVF with genetic testing is the only really foolproof method for making sure that your sex selection is 100 percent accurate. The preferred sex selection technique involves undergoing Vitro Fertilization (IVF) along with preimplantation genetic testing (embryonic testing — also known as PGS or PGD).

The choice of the child’s sex by the use of in vitro fertilization for non-medical reasons among fertile couples is ethically contentious. This is particularly relevant to would-be parents using sex selection to avoid having a child affected by, or at risk for, genetic disorders associated with sexuality. Sex selection allows couples to select either female-female embryos, or those that are not affected, to avoid these risks for the child. Director Jeffrey Steinberg estimates there are approximately five more U.S. clinics performing reasonable volumes of PGD to select the sex, and about 40% of fertility clinics offer it on demand.