A report to the government suggested that New Zealand could allow parents to choose the sex of their children who are born using IVF (in-vitro fertilisation). This is a process where the egg from the woman is fertilised by sperm from the man outside the women’s body, in a glass test tube (‘vitro’ means ‘glass’). IVF is used for couples who are having problems with fertility; the woman has difficulty getting pregnant.
However, it can also be used by parents who need to choose the sex of their child. There is a method used for sorting out male and female embryos, before one is put back into the woman’s body. But IVF is expensive and it is also not a pleasant process. The sorting process does not have a very high success rate of pregnancy either, less than 20% success.
There are some reasons that parents may want to choose the sex of their child. The most common reason is because someone in their family has a disease which affects males. In this case, they might want to have a female child. It is already legal to use IVF for this medical reason in New Zealand, the UK and Australia.
Some parents might want to choose either a male or female to balance their family if, for example, they have 3 boys and want a girl. In some sad cases, where a son or daughter has died, a family might want to replace that child. At the moment, it is illegal to choose the sex of a child for social reasons in New Zealand, the UK and Australia. However, this report, which is called ‘Who Gets Born?’ says that parents should be able to choose the sex of their child if they want to.
The government will now discuss this report and decide if the law should be changed. |