The sex of the baby is influenced only by the male sperm. There are of course many factors that say to influence the sex of the baby and old wives’ tales about this subject, but none have turned out to be 100% accurate and has not been proven through rigorous methods. If a couple actually desires a boy or a girl mainly, they can follow some methods, as they don’t have anything to lose for that matter. But as for medical methods, science and technology have taken a step further and there is the possibility of actually choosing a specific sex for your baby.

MicroSort is a method that requires separating the male sperm from the female. There are many doctors and fertility experts that actually state this is the most effective medical method out there. It is also most effective in combination with couples who decide on in vitro fertilization. MicroSort is licensed by the Genetics and IVF institute in Fairfax. The procedure lies in separating the X and Y-bearing sperm by using laser light. A machine is needed for this process, called cytometer. After the division of the sperm, the specimens are introduced in the body of the woman using artificial means, like in vitro fertilization.

MicroSort is bound to have a success rate of 91% for the couples wanting a baby girl and 73% rate for couples looking forward a baby boy. Moreover, there seem to be other medical techniques for choosing the sex of the baby. More controversial strategies have been developed, such as preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and chorionic villus sampling (CVS). These methods are used more for detecting medical illnesses, but they can be used for distinguishing sex as well. In order to determine the sex of the baby, the PGD procedure is lead by examining an embryo taken from the uterus and replacing only the embryo with the sex the couple wants. CVS technique involves analyzing the chromosomes of the fetus during early pregnancy. Unfortunately, the reason why these methods are controversial is because some couples ended up with abortion, because baby that didn’t have the sex they wanted.

Neither PGD nor CVS are recommended by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine as a sex selecting method for couples. These medical procedures of selecting the baby’s sex have caused a debate in the medical society. Some doctors think it is a great way to balance families and to help couples have their desired baby, but some say things might get out of control. A recent report states that four out of 500 pregnancies with MicroSort procedure have been terminated just because of this reason. Some couples are struggling hard to have a baby and they wouldn’t mind the sex and it is not fair towards them to terminate pregnancies of couples who can have a baby at any time. Trying low tech methods are recommended, they are not invasive and there are 50% chances they will work. Medical methods should still be used just to help procreation and not putting an end to it.