Can You Choose Gender With IVF?

In today's age, innovative developments in reproductive technologies have transformed the alternatives open to couples struggling with conception. In vitro fertilization (IVF), in particular, is now a source of optimism, offering a glimmer of hope to people who want to be parents. The potential to choose the child's gender is an intriguing aspect of IVF that has helped in detecting the embryos health and genetics.

What is Gender Selection?

Gender selection (also known as sex selection) is a medical process used as an element of IVF which enables you to select the gender of your baby. Gender selection is done using PGS (preimplantation genetic screening), sometimes known as PGD (preimplantation genetic diagnosis). PGS/PGD screens embryos and transfers the healthier ones of the chosen sex into the woman's uterus. This test helps the embryologist to detect any genetic abnormalities in addition to the gender and gives parents piece of mind about the health of the baby.

Reasons for doing the gender selection test

• Genetic disorders are frequently a deciding factor in a child's gender identity. Several medical disorders, such as hemophilia, muscular dystrophy, and chromosomal anomalies, have been linked to a greater number of cases in one gender. Gender selection has become an increasingly common option for parents looking to prevent certain illnesses from passing down to their children.
• Family balancing: certain couples may opt to balance their families by gender selection. In some circumstances, a couple feels a psychological urge to have a kid of a specific gender, either because they believe they are better qualified to parent a child of that gender or because they have previously lost a child.
• Parents Mental Health: For some people or couples, being able to determine their child's gender may offer a sense of control and ease anxiety caused by pregnancy's uncertainty.
• Social or Economic Factors: In some communities, there might be perceived advantages or disadvantages to having a kid of a specific gender. Couples may consider these societal or economic issues when determining whether to undergo gender selection.

Process of gender selection

Those desiring to choose the sex of a baby for family balancing will follow the same methods as couples undergoing IVF. That is, a woman's eggs are collected and fertilized with her partner's or a donor's sperm to produce embryos.

After they are stored in the lab, embryos continue to develop for five to six days. On day five or six, one cell from each normal developing embryo will be taken. Embryo biopsy is the removal of one cell from the trophectoderm, the outer layer of cells that allows the blastocyst embryo to hatch out of the zona pellucida. The embryos are preserved while the extracted cells' genetic material is examined in a laboratory. Once the findings of the PGD test are available, they will be shared with the patient(s), and a frozen embryo transfer (FET) will be scheduled.

Only the highest-quality, genetically healthy embryos of the intended sex will be chosen for the transfer day. Both your age and the level of quality of your embryos will be considered when selecting how many embryos to transfer.

Gender selection success rate

With PGD tests, our fertility doctor may detect XX or XY chromosomes in the embryo, making the process nearly 100% accurate.

However, not all patients can create viable embryos of the desired gender due to factors such as age, egg reserve and quality, and sperm quality. In these circumstances, couples seeking gender selection may consider sperm or egg donation.

 Gender selection, whether medical or elective, has extremely high success rates when employing preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) or preimplantation genetic screening (PGS/PGT-A).

Benefits of gender selection testing

• Prevention of genetic diseases
• Family balancing
• Reduce the stress and anxiety of the parents
• Increase the chances of success
• Gives parents a sense of control over the process
• Reduced rate of miscarriage

Conclusion

Gender selection is a very beneficial tool for fertility therapy, and the use of IVF has assisted many couples in raising their desired-gender baby with roughly a 100% success rate.