High tech gender selection for family balancing is prohibited
in the UK, but is it possible that could change? Today the United
Kingdom's Department of Health launches a public consultation to learn
the public's views on sex selection and other issues related to
assisted conception technologies. The consultation is part of a
review aimed at reforming regulations established 15 years ago by the
Human Fertilization and Embryology Act (HFE Act).
Below are excerpts from the
review document dealing with gender selection. See the links at
the end of this article to learn more and find out how to send your own
opinion to the UK Department of Health. The deadline is November 25th.
5.28 The HFE Act does not prohibit sex selection of embryos. Sex
selection using PGD is subject to regulation by the HFEA. Currently the
HFEA only allows sex selection to avoid sex-linked disorders such as
haemophilia.
5.29 Sex selection using new “sperm sorting” procedures is not
covered by the HFE Act. The question of whether “sperm sorting” should
be brought within the HFE Act is dealt with in paragraphs 2.33 to 2.37
5.30 In 2002/03 the HFEA undertook an extensive public consultation
on the issue of sex selection. This included written consultation,
discussion groups, and a MORI survey of 2,000 people representative of
the UK population. This found strong public opposition to sex selection
for non-medical reasons.
5.31 The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, however,
considered the issue of sex selection and found no adequate
justification for prohibiting the use of sex selection for family
balancing – that is, where a family already have children of one gender
and wish to ‘balance’ their family with a child of the other gender.
This was on the basis that family balancing would be unlikely to result
in harm to society through an overall gender imbalance. Some countries
such as Belgium and Jordan allow sex selection for non-medical reasons.
Others such as Israel allow non-medical sex selection only for family
balancing purposes.
5.32 The Government seeks views on sex selection for non-medical
reasons. In particular, should this be banned? Or should people be
allowed to use sex selection techniques for family balancing purposes
as the Science and Technology Committee suggest? If so, how many
children of one gender should a couple already have before being
allowed to use sex selection techniques to try for a child of the other
gender?
The following section deals
with sperm sorting techniques, which would include Ericsson and
MicroSort. These techniques are currently permitted in the UK, as
long as no embryos are created, meaning that use with IVF is not
allowed.
2.33 The HFE Act currently regulates the storage and donation of
gametes and embryos, and the creation and keeping of embryos outside
the body. It does not however regulate the use of a couple’s own
gametes for treatments which do not involve either storage or the
creation of embryos outside the body. This means in practice that
certain techniques – such as methods of artificial insemination where
sperm is used without being stored – do not come within the scope of
regulation, and therefore do not currently require a licence. These
techniques include gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT) and
intrauterine insemination (IUI).
About Maureen
Click to play the Fountains of Wayne song about Maureen!
"Maureen, you're givin' me too much information!"
My Kiddies
My DH
(And never had a fight!)
About Me
In 1999, my two sons were 4 and 2 years old, and we were ready to have another baby. I hoped to have a daughter, and I turned to the Internet to search for ways of increasing the odds of conceiving a girl. I discovered the iVillage Gender Determination Board. On the board, I found information about at-home and high-tech sex selection methods, but more importantly, I discovered I wasn't alone. I was one among a legion of mothers who longed desperately for a daughter, keeping it a secret so others wouldn't think, wrongly, that we loved our sons less, and feeling guilty becuse we're not supposed to care if a baby's a boy or a girl, "as long as it's healthy". There were, of course, also mothers hoping just as much to add a son to their all-girl family.
After a lot of research and soul-searching, my husband I decided to try MicroSort. In the fall of 2000, I became pregnant on our first MicroSort attempt, by IUI. At 20 weeks of pregnancy, we discovered we were having twins, a boy and a girl! We were thrilled to have a daughter at last, and a new son to cherish too.
During my journey to conceive a daughter, I was so grateful for the support and information volunteered by others on the boards; mothers who didn't even know me, but were willing to help me, hope for me, and cry along with me, when there was no one I could turn to "in real life". I know that without being able to talk personally with women who had tried MicroSort, I would have never gone through with this daunting, complex procedure; and that we would have never had a daughter as part of our family.
Now that my journey's finished, this Web site is just my way of giving some of that help back, to you.