Baby Gender Selection: Couple Spend $50,000 To Choose Sex Of Their Child

The parents of three boys, Jayne and Jon Cornwill, were so desperate for a girl that they shelled out a huge amount of money – and travelled to another country – to make their dreams of having a daughter come true.

The Australian couple headed to the US to have the controversial procedure as gender selection treatment is illegal in Australia (it is in the UK).

“Obviously we wanted a little girl after having three boys,” Jayne told Channel Nine. “We tried all the natural things, all the diets, all the positions, all the old wives’ tales but none of them worked.
 
“That’s when it struck me the hardest, and that’s when we decided we were going to seek medical intervention.”
 
Known as preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), Jayne admits that the treatment cost them around £50,000. “It’s not cheap,” says Jayne. “We had one failed attempt early in the year last year and then the second successful attempt.”

The couple are now parents to a seven-month-old daughter, Emmerson, who was born after years of “gender disappointment”. But we hope Jayne’s three sons don’t hear her say that…
 
“It’s like mourning the death of a child you never had,” she says. “My husband wanted a little girl that one day he could walk down the aisle, I wanted a daughter so I could have that relationship… and our sons wanted a little sister.”
 
And what does Jayne have to say to those who are against gender selection? Don’t use it. But don’t begrudge those that do. 
 
“Just because you don’t have a use for PGD then simply don’t use it, don’t take that choice away from somebody else because you don’t know how much it may mean to them.”

 
The Rising Popularity Of Gender Selection
 
Whatever the general consensus on this controversial procedure, stats show it’s becoming the next parenting trend – gathering momentum quicker than anyone anticipated.
 
Recent figures, provided by Dr Daniel Potter from a US fertility clinic, have revealed that the number of UK women travelling across the pond to the US for it has risen by 20 per cent each year. And eight in 10 couples from Britain are choosing to have a girl.
 
But what will happen if we end up with far more women than men? We’ll leave you to sleep on that one.

Do you think gender selection treatment should be available in the UK? Let us know in the comments.

[UK Women Fly To The US To Choose Their Baby’s Sex]
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