The American Society for Reproductive Medicine has ruled that it is proper and ethical to help couples to choose the sex of their babies.  This board is dedicated to discussing gender selection for family balancing purposes.  Clinics that provide Gender Selection do so with the goal of family balancing and unless there is a genetic reason, Gender Selection is typically not available for someone wanting a first child of a certain gender.

High Tech Gender Selection options are comprised of the following:

PGD with IVF:$14,000-20,000- ONLY CURRENT AVAILABLE OPTION FOR GENDER SELECTION

Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis(PGD) or Preimplantation Genetic Screening(PGS)  is the process of taking a single cell from an embryo on day 3 of  culture and analyzing the chromosomes for its genetic makeup, including gender. This process is carried out via FISH or GSN.

Pros: Guarantee of gender, potentially rule out major causes of miscarriage, can be performed all over the US- anywhere that offers GS, no/lower travel costs and away time, no semen analysis required, higher pregnancy rate than IUI, (most of us are told 60% chance with 2 blasts, 40% with one), about the same cost as MS/IVF

Cons: Risk of no transfer due to no desired gender available, risk of no transfer due to all abnormals, do not have the option of a day 3 transfer b/c gender is unknown at that time, need a decent amount of embryos to have a good chance although you can get lucky with lower numbers, embryos need to make it to day 5 for transfer, worries of PGD

MS + PGD + IVF:$17,000-25,000

Pros: Gender guarantee and strong health potential depending on how many probes selected, pregnacy rate higher than IUI(60% chance with 2 blasts, 40% with one), can be performed anywhere but fresh sample might be better for MS, higher likelihood of right gender available at transfer, have the option of a day 3 transfer if needed/recommended

Cons: NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE – Most expensive option, must go to CA or VA for fresh MS, longest time away from home, potentially highest travel expenses, the more “procedures” you add to IVF, the more potential obstacles to overcome, good SA is required, not available to everyone due to trial restrictions, risk of all abnormal/no transfer is there, embryos must survive until day 5 for PGD results, worries of PGD and MS, Cannot ship frozen MS embryos out of the US

MicroSort with IUI: $3800-5000

MicroSort®

MicroSort® is an exclusive preconception sperm sorting technology, developed by the Genetics & IVF Institute (GIVF), that is designed to increase the likelihood of conceiving a child of a particular gender. GIVF conducted a clinical trial using the MicroSort® technology. This research study used MicroSort®’s patented technology, which is designed for the purpose of separating sperm either into those that primarily produce girls or those that primarily produce boys. The purpose of the research study was to investigate the safety and effectiveness of conceiving a child of the indicated gender to either: 1) prevent genetic disease or 2) facilitate family balancing.  Preliminary findings from GIVF’s study data so far indicate that for patients sorting sperm for a girl baby, approximately 9 out of 10* of those who became pregnant were successful in conceiving a female baby; for those sorting for a boy baby, approximately 3 out of 4* who became pregnant were successful in conceiving a male baby.  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not reviewed these results and has not determined whether MicroSort® is safe or effective.  MicroSort new enrollment is limited to couples attempting to prevent sex linked or sex limited disease by using MicroSort® sorted sperm. It is NOT enrolling new patients for family balancing purposes.

 Pros: Least invasive of all HT.  Least expensive option too.  Pretty good chance at getting the right gender, if you achieve pregnancy. Least amount of travel/stay time if you have/choose to travel for HT.

Cons:  NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE – Lowest pregnancy rates(average of 16% depending on what type of meds are used according to the MicroSort website), no guarantee of gender(1 in 10 will get an opposite for XX), DH has to pass a Semen Analysis to qualify, other restrictions like age on who can be in the trial, only offered in 2 locations(VA or CA), worries of MS technology

MicroSort with IVF: $14,000-20,000

Pros: Likelihood of transfer is high, can transfer on day 3 if one chooses, can use frozen or fresh sample so can be done in a number of locations, odds of pregnancy are good if one has 2 blasts to transfer

Cons: NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE – No gender guarantee, not cheap(IVF plus MS fee), for best results, it has been suggested to travel to VA or CA to have it done with fresh MS, will not know if embryos have any genetic issues that PGD might discover had that been performed so if you have 10+ embryos to choose from, you could potentially end up with doing several cycles with FETs and still not achieve pregnancy, might need to transfer more than you would had you done PGD due to unknown health and day 3 transfer, worries of MS, Cannot ship frozen embryos out of the US so any/all FETs have to be done on US soil