Gender Selection News

NPR Radio investigates Baby Gender Mentor accuracy claims

NPR's "Morning Edition" today features an extensive discussion about Baby Gender Mentor's accuracy claims.  Two mothers who have posted here about their results are interviewed: Danielle, a mother who was told by Acu-Gen to expect her third boy but who has had numerous ultrasounds showing a girl; and Heather, whose Baby Gender Mentor result was boy/girl twins, but is expecting only one baby.

With Acu-Gen, the test's maker, offering little proof of its claims, anecdotal evidence of women with conflicting predictions worries Diana Bianchi. She's an expert on fetal DNA at Tufts University whose work is cited on Acu-Gen's Web site as proof that there's science behind the test.

NPR

You can hear the complete report on NPR's Web site (link below).

• Critics Question Accuracy of Fetus Sex Test
  NPR
• Danielle's Experience with Baby Gender Mentor
  In-Gender.com Blog
• Doctors Question Ethics of Baby Gender Test
  NPR's original coverage of Baby Gender Mentor, 30-JUN-05

Published Sep 29 2005, 08:05 AM by Maureen

Filed under: Gender Determination, Gender Venders

Comments

	Deana said: I did the gender test at 5 weeks. I have 2 boys and was hoping for a girl. The test said that I was having a girl. However, last week the sonogram showed a VERY male baby. I had already painted the room pink and given all my boy clothes away. I am so confused and in a lot of emotional turmoil. I am mourning the daughter that I thought I had. While I am happy that he is healthy, it was a complete shock. They are so convincing with their 99.9% accuracy claim and their 200% garantee. After reading these posts, I am confident I can paint the room blue. These people are scam artists. By the time I give birth and can prove them wrong, they will be out of business and I will be out of luck on my refund. Thanks, Deana October 8, 2005 6:44 PM
	Gender Selection News said: No, you're not accidently reading "The Onion" by mistake, this really happened. Baby Gender Mentor... January 13, 2006 6:38 PM
	Gender Selection News said: No, you're not accidently reading "The Onion" by mistake, this really happened. Baby Gender Mentor... February 17, 2006 10:29 PM

About Maureen

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.