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Fertility specialists are lobbying the National Health and Medical Research Council to allow parents to use IVF  for “gender balancing’’.

Herald Sun reports, Ian Olver, the chairman of the NHMRC review panel, has said the new rules would be quite strict and not allow parents to use IVF to choose the gender of their first child — except for medical reasons.

“We wouldn’t want to promote any gender bias so that people select the sex of their first child,’’ he said.

“I don’t think there would be an appetite for anything that emphasised one gender over another and allowed people, for cultural or racial reasons, to pick one gender.’’

Prof Olver said the NHMRC was considering demands for the introduction of an Israeli-style law to let families choose the sex of a baby if they already have children of the same gender.

“There’s a difference between that and being able to choose your first child because you want a boy … there are cultures where that sort of thing happens,’’ he said.

Fertility Society of Australia president Michael Chapman called for “gender balancing’’ in families with two children of the same sex.

“I see many distraught couples with three or four children of the same sex who want to have a child of the opposite sex,’’ he said.

Australian Medical Association chief Michael Gannon said sex selection for family balancing was “not an appropriate use of medical science’’.

I am quite old fashioned. I am still a big believer of “we get what we are given”. I am a mum of two boys and would never change a thing.

I do totally understand that longing though. I have had friends try for a third baby in hopes of breaking the male gene, but went on to have a third son.

Just like some families can’t break the girl streak. My family is quite mixed. I am one of two girls. I have all boys myself.

Extended family member has two girls from a family of all girls herself, yet her sisters both have boys. Go figure! It’s just the way it is if you ask me.

Do you think there is a real need for “gender balancing?”

Share your comments below.

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  • Don’t see the need for this at all.

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  • No I don’t see a need either, not only that I’m totally against it. See what evil comes from even thinking in that way in other countries. How many girls are aborted or killed upon birth in countries ?! Allowing and ecouraging the choice here doesn’t give the right signal to those countries !

    Reply

  • I don’t think there is any need.

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  • This doesn’t seem right. You are blessed with whichever sex you have.

    Reply

  • I am only ok with this for medical reasons.

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  • I don’t see a need to do that at all. But I guess a lot of other people would find it very interesting!

    Reply

  • I personally would not be concerned with the gender of my baby – only that he/she is healthy.

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  • choosing gender has been around for a while now.

    Reply

  • I don’t think there’s any need. Allow it and next families will want to choose other traits selectively such as hair and eye colour. I don’t think we should be messing with it. Designer babies should not be allowed.

    Reply

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