In recent weeks, several reports have appeared in the media that Australia's ban on couples using IVF to choose the sex of their children for social reasons or to balance their families might soon be lifted.
Most stories quoted 'IVF pioneer' Professor Gab Kovacs, who is said to be 'leading the charge' or 'leading the lobby'. A number of other fertility doctors are also involved.
This seems to be a pre-emptive attempt to sway public opinion. The inquiry has not yet commenced. And supporters of this view know that many of us are not comfortable about parents choosing the sex of their children. So ahead of time, they're trying to change our minds.
Many couples with one child would prefer another child of the opposite sex. However, studies show that very few people would take deliberate steps to guarantee that this happens. To the contrary, many people feel intuitively that there's something not quite right about doing this.
Following its usual practice, the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) is soon to review its 2004 Ethical Guidelines on the Use of Assisted Reproductive Technology in Clinical Practice and Research.
These Guidelines permit sex selection in Australia for medical reasons in those cases where parents could pass on a genetic disease to children of one or the other sex. However, they do not permit sex selection for non-medical reasons. They state that 'sex selection (by whatever means) must not be undertaken except to reduce the risk of transmission of a serious genetic condition'.
These guidelines apply to all fertility clinics and fertility doctors around Australia. It seems that some of them are not happy about having to conform to community standards.
This is about in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). IVF uses sperm and ova to make multiple embryos outside the body. PGD tests one cell from each developing embryo — in this case, to identify which are male and which are female. Only embryos of the sex which will not develop a particular genetic disease are then implanted into the woman's body.
All this is very expensive. The cost of a single cycle of IVF is between $5–8000; the cost of PGD is between $10–15,000. Some of the supporters of sex selection for non-medical reasons are fertility doctors who would receive these large payments. I wonder if this financial incentive has helped to shape their