A few days ago we echoed a simple method devised by Japanese scientists that would allow parents to choose the sex of their baby comfortably, easily and without medical intervention. The news has generated an intense moral and ethical debate that has led us to review how this issue is regulated in Spain and other countries.
Is it possible to choose the sex of the baby responding to a simple personal desire? What does the law say about it? In which countries is it allowed and in which not? How would you proceed when selecting the sex of the baby? We explain it to you in detail.
In Spain it is only legal for medical purposes
In our country it is possible to select the sex of the baby in those cases in which it is needed avoid a disease linked to sex chromosomes.
This is regulated in the Human Assisted Reproduction Law 14/2006 of May 26, in whose article 12.1 we can read the following:
According to article 26 of this Law, the selection of sex or genetic manipulation for non-therapeutic or unauthorized purposes is considered a "very serious infraction."Duly authorized centers may practice preimplantation diagnostic techniques to:
to detection of serious hereditary diseases, of early appearance and not susceptible to postnatal curative treatment according to current scientific knowledge, in order to carry out embryonic selection of non-affected pre-embryos for transfer.
b) The detection of other alterations that may compromise the viability of the pre-embryo.
In Babies and more, the first Spanish baby free of the mutation that predisposes to breast cancer is bornThey know each other around 300 genetic diseases linked to sex chromosomes. Among them, we can find many serious ones, such as hemophilia or Duchenne muscular dystrophy, for example.
As we can read in the scientific journal Elsevier, when the disease is linked to the X chromosome, it is women who transmit it, but generally only men develop it. While in the case of diseases linked to the Y chromosome, only men carry and present it.
That is why in these cases, the only measure to preventing disease transfer is through embryonic selection, transferring only female embryos, which even if they are carriers of the disease, will not develop it.
How is the selection made?
The safest and most used technique to choose the sex of the baby in these cases is the pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), which is carried out after the hormonal stimulation of the woman and in vitro fertilization. DGP studies embryo DNA, so that only one with the desired sex can be selected for implantation in the uterus.
There is another way to select the sex of the baby much simpler but less effective, consisting of the separation of sperm by dye which indicates which have a male genetic load and which female. After separation, the woman is inseminated with the sperm selected, the success rate of this technique being 70-80%.
In what other countries is sex selection legal?
As in Spain, other countries such as the United Kingdom, Russia, Italy, Canada, some states of the United States, New Zealand or Australia also allow baby sex selection for therapeutic reasons only.
But there are other countries where This choice does not correspond to a medical reason, but to a simple personal desire. Such is the case in most states of the United States, Mexico, Panama, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Thailand, Jordan, India or Nigeria.
There have been several initiatives launched, both in our country and in others with similar legislation regarding this issue, to try to modify the law of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, so that the choice of sex of the baby is open to the personal desire of any couple without there having to be medical reasons. But, for the moment, these proposals have not worked.
In Babies and more Experts in IVF advocate that parents choose the sex of the baby from the third childThe ethical dilemmas posed by the choice of sex of the baby
Many experts are opposed to choosing the sex of the baby with scientific methods, when there are no therapeutic reasons to justify it.Such is the case of the selection of sex for cultural reasons (as is the case in certain Asian countries), where a clear preference for male children could seriously jeopardize population balance if the methods of choosing sex were available to everyone.
In Babies and more Do not reveal the sex of the baby to avoid selective abortionsOn the other hand, the ethical dilemma about what to do with healthy leftover embryos of unwanted sex. In this sense, the law contemplates the possibility of donating them to another couple or delivering them to science for research studies. In no case may embryos be destroyed outside the legally authorized cases.
Can you choose the sex of the baby in a natural way?
Although it is not relevant for many parents to know the sex of the child they expect, for others The personal desire to have a child of a certain sex is especially important, especially when the couple yearns for, they already have several children of the same sex, or when members of a certain sex abound in the family.
In these cases, there are couples who resort to natural methods to select the sex of the baby, modifying the mother's diet and maintaining relationships at a certain time in the cycle or in another, depending on whether a girl or a boy is desired.
But these types of methods are not reliable, and although there are those who may find it "entertaining" to try to intervene in what chance and nature will bring us, experts emphasize the importance of this not conditioning sexual relations or affecting the feelings that arise when it is later known The sex of the future baby.
