Australian IVF clinics will no longer be able help couples choose the sex of their baby after the Federal Government’s Health Ethics Committee ruled that sex selection was not in the interest of the resulting child. “Admission to life should not be conditional upon a child being a particular sex,” said the authority. It also contends that the procedure, which involves discarding embryos of the “wrong” sex, might undermine the parent-child relationship. However, it still supports sex selection for couples whose children might suffer from sex-linked genetic diseases.

Only two fertility clinics in Australia have been offering sex selection. They will abide by the decision, but complain that it was partisan and unreasonable. Prospective patients are asking “why their autonomy has been taken away from them,” said the deputy medical director of Sydney IVF, Dr Mark Bowman.

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