Lara Alyanna M.

Liberato

Gender Rule in Australia

The National Health and Medical Research Council are considering changing
the rules in Australia on gender selection.
(We just really wanted a daughter and I had no ethical problems with it
Ive been criticised for playing God, messing with nature and being superficial. I know that,
to a childless woman struggling with infertility, I might seem ungrateful because I already have
three healthy sons. But unless youve experienced gender disappointment, you cant
understand how crippling it can be.
I understand some people who cant have their own children would be thinking, you are lucky
and you have three beautiful, healthy sons. And that is true. But it is not about everyone else, it
is about me and my husband and our choice, and women like me.
These are just some of the views of Australian families who have undergone gender selection.
The controversial process whereby parents pick the sex of their baby through IVF.
The process currently illegal in Australia has seen families fork out up to $50,000 to get
those desired booties by travelling overseas in most cases it seems pink is the fashionable
shade.
But travelling to the US or Thailand to purchase your selected sex may be a thing of the past with
the National Health and Medical Research Council considering changing the rules in Australia.
The MHMC has opened its consultation draft to public comment and is looking primarily for
feedback on sex selection for non-medical purposes along with the idea of compensating
women for donating their eggs and the establishment of an Australian egg donor bank.
In Australia it is already possible for those families with a risk of genetic abnormalities to choose
the sex of their babies.
The NHMRCs Australian Health Ethics Committee chair Ian Oliver said it was time to question
whether it should be allowed for non-medical reasons such as family balancing.
Monash University professor and fertility specialist Gab Kovacs told Fairfax Media he
couldnt see what harm it could do saying most patients he saw who wanted the process had
only boys and wanted a girl.
Michael Sandel, a Harvard University professor told CNN that the reason for the ban on
selecting gender for lifestyle reasons is because of a concern about creating a gender imbalance.
In China now, there are 117 boys for every 100 girls. In parts of northern India, its 140 boys for
every 100 girls.

Some European countries and Canada hold a similar view about creating a gender imbalance
but in the US gender selection is readily available.
One mother, Jayne Cornwill told Fairfax Media last year that she paid $50,000 to have a baby
girl in the US.
The mother of three sons said that every time she was told she was having a boy her heart broke
She openly admitted the disappointment. The depression. All because of the fact they were
boys. With her third son she even actively considered aborting her baby because of his gender.
She wrote:
I fell pregnant again when Jordan was 14 months old. Then came the 16-week ultrasound and
the words Id been dreading, Its a boy. During the pregnancy I became so depressed I
considered having an abortion.
So she re-mortgaged their home even before their third son was born, and travelled to the US for
IVF gender selection.
It was not an easy process for this mother, taking two attempts to work but finally $50,000 later
she heard the words she had been dreaming of.
Another family, the McMahons who have six sons, spoke out about their desire for a daughter.
They travelled twice to the US and now have two healthy baby girls.
We just really wanted a daughter and I had no ethical problems with it. It doesnt occur to me
that its not right. I understand the other side of the story, but it doesnt feel wrong, I dont think
it is wrong. I think its up to the individual family and I just dont think it really matters what
other people say.
Bob Phelps, director of the non-profit organisation Gene Ethics told News Limited last year
gender selection is dangerous Gender is a chance you take when having children. You should
not choose it for lifestyle reasons.
Despite being legal in America the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
actually opposes sex selection.
In Australia the public are divided on gender selection. Though a study by the Queensland
Fertility Group showed half the women interviewed said they would not undergo gender
selection if it would reduce their chances of falling pregnant.
Theyd rather have a baby of any gender than no baby at all, said Carmel Carrigan who
conducted the research.
Perhaps revealing that deep down gender selection isnt that important to us at all.