Why is gender selection for family balancing increasing?

Jane Frederick, MD, FACOG. HRC Fertility:

Well, I’ve seen a lot more interest in couples coming to me for gender selection or gender balancing. And it all started with the couples that were having a genetic disorder in their family. So, they had a child and the firstborn child had a genetic defect. Sometimes a child did not make it and did not survive.

So, they’re asking; the couples have been asking me: “Can you please help me determine which embryo is genetically healthy and competent and would not carry this disease into my next pregnancy.” And many of those diseases are X-linked diseases. They’re related to the gender of the embryo, such as hemophilia.

So, our technology started by helping out the genetic couples. And I was able to evaluate the embryo using a procedure called Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis, and I can actually now screen for all 24 chromosomes and we can rule out Down syndrome, Turner syndrome, miscarriages, things that would not produce a healthy pregnancy. And in that information I’m able to offer gender. So, male versus female.

So, in those couples we can actually say, “Here is an embryo that is a certain gender that will not have the affected disorder.”

That got extrapolated now into my couples who are trying to balance their family. So, they are fertile and they’ve had two boys and they want a girl or they’ve had three girls and want a boy and they are coming to me because they don’t want to have five more pregnancies just to get the balance in their family.

Some patients actually are aborting pregnancies that aren’t the right gender. So, we want to eliminate that. We’re trying to, with this technology, offer the opportunity to have the next pregnancy be your last one and be the gender that would help balance your family.

Interestingly enough, 80 percent of my couples are asking me to produce a girl, and I feel that’s because it’s really female-driven. They’re women. We want to have daughters and we may have two sons and we don’t want have two more sons and have five children; we maybe just want to have three children.

So, 80 percent of my couples are asking me, “Please, can you use this technology of preimplantation genetic screening and help me to balance my family?” The screening tool is about 99 percent accurate.

It’s important to know that not all laboratories are the same in terms of how they do the technology and in terms of their success. So, you really need a state-of-the-art laboratory that can offer you a blast embryo that can be biopsied successfully and then chromosomally evaluated and transferred.

So, I really caution the consumer to know who they’re working with for this technology.