Britons look to US to pick baby's sex

Published on Saturday 22 August 2009 19:51

BRITISH couples who want to choose their babies' sex are being targeted by a new clinic in Manhattan.

Would-be parents are flying to the United States for pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, which can reveal the sex of an embryo. The technique is banned in the UK, unless it is used to screen for genetic diseases.

The US relaxed its regulations on sex selection in 2001, and medical centres have reported increased interest from British patients, who pay up to 20,000 a time. Many of them advertise their "family balancing" services through online advertisements.

Jeffrey Steinberg, who opened his New York clinic in January, said half the embryos undergoing tests in his laboratory belong to British parents. Four more couples are already booked in for next month.

He said: "Britain is far more conservative than it used to be. They were the innovators but now they've got handcuffs on. From a business standpoint, it's the best thing going. From a medical standpoint, it's a travesty."

Britain's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority is cautious about relaxing the regulations, especially as surveys show most people oppose sex selection for social reasons.

It is only allowed to prevent genetic conditions, such as muscular dystrophy and haemophilia, which predominantly affect boys.

But most US citizens are reluctant to allow government involvement in medicine. There is no official regulator to monitor clinics and no legal obligation to offer counselling before treatment.

Although evidence suggests that British patients tend to pick sons and daughters in roughly even numbers, most US clinics will treat only those parents who already have a child of the other sex.

Stephen Wilkinson, a professor of bioethics at Keele University, has called for the British regulations to change.

He said: "The case for prohibition in the UK is not very strong. The only people for whom there really is a ban are people who either can't afford to circumvent the regulations or who don't have the knowledge to do it."