Can You Choose Baby Gender?

Pick a Baby's Gender Using Embryo Screening, Sperm Selection

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Choosing Baby Gender – Expecting a Baby Girl - Herb Collingridge IV Photo
Choosing Baby Gender – Expecting a Baby Girl - Herb Collingridge IV Photo
Wondering, "Is it possible to choose the sex of a baby?" It is possible to decide baby gender through sperm selection or embryo screening, but it's very expensive.

Many couples who are considering pregnancy usually hope for a particular baby gender. But some couples go as far as to choose the sex of a baby. There is no 100% guarantee that a couple will conceive a baby girl or a baby boy, but at least one of these procedures designed to allow couples to pick their baby's gender does come very close, with a 99% chance of getting pregnant with a child of the selected gender.

How is Baby Gender Determined?

The baby's gender is decided by the chromosomal makeup of the sperm that fertilizes the egg. Baby boys have an XY chromosome make-up, while baby girls have an XX chromosome make-up.

The woman can only contribute an X to the equation, but the male can contribute an X or a Y. If the sperm that fertilizes the egg carries an X chromosome, the woman will conceive a baby girl. If the sperm carries a Y chromosome, the woman will conceive a baby boy.

In their physical appearance, all embryos remain the same until the eighth week of pregnancy. A week eight, the embryo's gonads will either remain inside the body and evolve into ovaries in the case of a girl baby, or they will descend and turn into testicles in the case of a boy baby.

The soonest gender ultrasounds can be performed at 12 weeks of pregnancy, but in a healthy pregnancy, mothers must wait until the 15th week of pregnancy to determine baby gender by ultrasound. In the case of a pregnant woman who has chosen the baby's gender, there is no suspense to learn the sex of the baby.

How Do You Choose the Sex of a Baby With Sperm Selection?

One of the two basic methods used to select baby gender involves screening sperm and performing artificial insemination.

The first method to choose the sex of a baby involves screening for sperm that contain the desired chromosomal make-up. With this sperm selection method, the baby's gender is determined before fertilization occurs.

According to ChooseBabyGender.net, this method for choosing the sex of a baby costs approximately $1,000. The benefit of this method is that it's relatively inexpensive (when compared to the other option) and the intra-uterine insemination process can be performed at home or at a physician's office.

The primary disadvantage to using sperm selection to choose baby gender is that the success rate is only 80% for a baby boy and 72% for a baby girl.

Choosing Baby Gender With Embryo Selection and IVF

The second method of deciding baby gender involves creating a "test tube baby" and selecting an embryo of the desired sex. The embryo of the chosen gender is then implanted through IVF. This method has a much higher success rate of "near 100%" according to ChooseBabyGender.net.

In addition to the high success rate for choosing baby gender, another positive is that this method also lends itself to genetic screening for conditions like Down Syndrome and hemophilia through a method called preimplantation genetic diagnosis or "PGD."

The main disadvantage to this method of choosing the sex of a baby is the expense, which ranges from $12,000 to $15,000. There is also a risk of multiple births, since IVF usually involves implantation of multiple embryos in the hope that at least one will implant and lead to a viable pregnancy.

The Ethics of Pre-Determining Baby Gender

Picking a baby's gender is quite controversial, as some claim it's a form of "playing God." Choosing baby gender leads to ethical questions, like, "Is choosing a baby's sex the first step toward creating a so-called designer baby?"

There is also the issue of whether choosing baby sex could ultimately lead to serious societal problems if a majority parents were to pick mostly baby boys or mostly baby girls. Right now, the cost of choosing baby gender makes it prohibitive for many individuals who are hoping to get pregnant. But as technology advances, it's possible the world could ultimately see an affordable home kit for choosing baby gender and this has some people concerned.

Today, kits to exist to determine baby gender at home and some boast a 95% accuracy rate. To learn more, read Home Gender Tests for Pregnant Women to learn more about the IntelliGender test or the Pink or Blue DNA test to determine baby gender.

Individuals who are planning a family may also enjoy reading Pregnancy Myths – Determining Baby Gender or Myths on How to Choose Baby Gender at Conception.

Mia Carter, Mia Carter

Mia Carter - Mia Carter - Journalist, Producer/Editor & Web Writer. Carter's work has appeared on CBS and CNN.com.

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Oct 2, 2010 12:32 AM
Guest :
My wife and I would prefer to have only girls since we know that it would most likely result in healthy children as males die from every illness far more often than do girls.

Also now that girls are being given an equal chance, we both see that women and girls surpassing us males in almost every area so in order to have children we think will be far more likely to succeed in life, and I am one male who can admit women are the superior gender by far so we will chose all girls instead of any males if given a choice.
Apr 17, 2011 1:31 AM
Guest :
My wife and I would both fully agree with the first comment posted here as both my wife and I have talked about it and we both agree we do not want any male children, even if we had a dozen, we want only girls and no males.

We know that it would most likely result in healthy children as males die from every illness far more often than do girls and this is throughout life.

Also now that girls are being given an equal chance, we both see that women and girls surpassing us males in almost every area so in order to have children we think will be far more likely to succeed in life, we will chose all girls instead of any males There is just way to much evidence that women and girls are the superior gender, not us males.

There are other reasons to want girls rather than males.

When we look at the chart below, we will find that males are inferior in every one of them while girls are superior in all areas at every age. There is some improvement with males as they get older but the improvement is small. This is only one area where it shows the vast superiority of women and girls over males of all ages.

Disability Age 6–12 Age 13–17
Male Female Male Female
Learning disability 67% 33% 66% 34%
Emotional disturbance 80% 20% 77% 23%
Speech impairment 66% 34% 62% 38%
Intellectual and developmental delays 56% 44% 56% 44%
Visual impairment 57% 43% 53% 47%
Hearing impairment 56% 44% 52% 48%
Autism 83% 17% 85% 15%
Multiple disabilities 65% 35% 57% 43%
Deaf/blindness 65% 35% 57% 43%
All disabilities 67% 33% 66% 34%


Of course there are hundreds of other reasons to prefer not to have males but it is so nice to see other males who can admit that we males are not the superior sex as so many have conned society to believe but in fact, women are far superior to us males.
Jun 10, 2011 12:43 AM
Guest :
"I do hope the new census does show some of the many areas women are superior "

I find that the comment here is interesting as I am another man who has come to accept the superiority of women. We often hear that women can do anything males can do and they can do it better. I often find this to be true except one word needs to be added, women can do most things males can do and they can do it FAR better than we can. There is a book called “The Natural Superiority of Women” which gives a lot of evidence for this although the male author did give us males some credit but the last edition was in 1999 and it needs to be updated as there are so many more ways women are superior to us that were not listed so the overall result is that woman are not slightly superior, they are vastly superior.

“All girls are "inherently smart, strong, and bold and I think this would be more so if this book were to be taught to all students perhaps starting in 5th grade. Too often girls are taught that they are the inferior sex although just the opposite is true. Boys need to learn that males are the inferior sex and that as a male, they need to realize the many weaknesses of the human male (while actually any male) There is nothing wrong with admitting our weakness and it was very freeing for me to come to terms with it. If live were a play, women would be the star with their name on the marquee while we males would simply be playing a supporting role to the stars. To be honest, I have to admit that if either gender is the superior one, I am glad it is the women and it does not even bother me that they are vastly superior to us males.

"The Natural Superiority of Women" is a good book that shows solid evidence that women are the superior gender. It starts by showing that every human starts out female but it goes on to say that at one certain stage of development something "goes horribly wrong" and some of us (myself included) end up to be male. In short, we males are a mutation of a female. (Seldom is a mutation good)

One problem with this book is that the last update of this book was in 1999 and since than a lot more has been learned that shows women are superior to males in even more areas.

Recently there have been several news items regarding this. Some say males will disappear totally. Others say we will still be around but not really needed. Before machines were invented, males were needed for their muscles for physical work. Now that machines can do all of that, males are not needed as much as we once were.

Now there is a book that can fill in that 21 year gap.

"Man Down" by Dan Abrams

Proof Beyond a Reasonable Doubt That Women Are Better Cops, Drivers, Gamblers, Spies, World Leaders, Beer Tasters, Hedge Fund Managers, and Just About Everything Else

Someone said that now that women are getting an equal chance, women are surpassing males in almost every area. This is what Abrams said is the reason for this book.

"There’s a lot more evidence now. A lot of the studies from the book are from the last three years. It’s only been in the last twenty or so years, that women have been on a relatively even playing field in terms of work to do many of these studies. We weren’t able to make fair comparisons before, because women were a fraction of the working world. Now we’re see women taking over the majority in many professions. But only recently has there been enough time to look back to compare men versus women and only recently has there been real interest."

Abrams said a vast majority of lead researchers are male, but the broad trend trackers are women. so it may be that males are beginning to wake up and smell the roses that male superiority is history. Actually, males never were superior as women have always been superior to males.

Women have a better sense of smell, taste, and new research is suggesting the fact that women tend to endure pain more makes them more immune to it. It’s the old aphorism, “That which doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.” Women survive injury better than males do and 77% of those who die in traffic accidents are male. Women have 34 more nerve fibers per square centimeter of facial skin, while men have an average of 17. This brings up sexual pleasure. Women have hundreds of times more nerve endings in their vagina than males have in their penis and as a result a male's orgasm pales to a woman's. A woman feels it in all of her body for several moments and it can be repeated many times in a short time. A male's orgasm consists of a few throbs of his penis and it is over in usually much less than a minute. He usually cannot have another one for several hours. Someone said that it is like Niagara Falls for women, a dripping faucet (no pun intended) for males.

Women live an average of five years longer than men. The reasons for this are both genetic and behavior-based. First of all, women have stronger immune systems, again due to estrogen which aids the fight against disease-inducing enzymes. But women are also less likely to engage in risky behavior. Almost all of the Darwin Award winners are male. Usually 9 or more males kill themselves for each woman who does to get this award.

Women make better doctors. While forty percent of doctors are women, 80 percent of those under investigation for medical misconduct or incompetence are male. In the U.S., there were similar findings. Male physicians were twice as likely to be sued as women


He does list things males are better at: Males are better at parking, they’re better dieters, they have better distance vision, and they read maps better. Males do have larger muscles, so they tend to be better at some sports but women far excel males in endurance sports.

A woman's body can more efficiently process oxygen. When it comes to ultra-marathons—say, a 135 mile race without sleep—women can beat men. Remember the first male that ran a marathon died and when we read about someone dying while playing sports or running a race, it is far more likely it will be a male.

When looking at sex change operations, we will notice that a few hundred males want to become women for every woman who wants to become a male. Still these males would not become members of the superior gender as their DNA would still be male thus keeping them inferior to women.

Even in combat, women are better sharp shooters and if the battle of the sexes every turned into a real war, we males would not have a chance. All the males would all be dead while 3/4 or more women remained alive and unharmed.

It is a given that males need women far more than women need males but lets count our lucky stars that most women still want us around.

With Montagu's book, I use to think women had a 80 out of 100 advantage over us males. With his last update in 1999 I raised that to 85 to 100. Now with this new book, it looks like women have a 95 to 100 advantage over males and if it keeps up since women have grown so much in the last 20 to 30 years, soon they will have total advantage over anyone that has the misfortune of being born with testicles. From what I see around me, I too am glad women are the SUPERIOR gender and MALES are the inferior one
Jul 14, 2011 2:34 AM
Guest :
The Wall Street Journal has an article called "The War on Girls" It points out that since 1970 over 163 million girls have been aborted by parents seeking sons. Why anyone would want to abort someone that would be far superior to a male is beyond me.
It goes on to say "In nature, 105 boys are born for every 100 girls. This ratio is biologically ironclad. Between 104 and 106 is the normal range, and that's as far as the natural window goes. Any other number is the result of unnatural events. There is nothing to be ashamed of because women and not us males are superior.
Yet today in India there are 112 boys born for every 100 girls. In China, the number is 121—though plenty of Chinese towns are over the 150 mark."
The author states that "such imbalances are portents of Very Bad Things to come. "Historically, societies in which men substantially outnumber women are not nice places to live," she writes. "Often they are unstable. Sometimes they are violent."
Should it be any surprise? The more MALES we have, the worse society becomes? Maybe The S.C.U.M. Manifesto by Valerie Jean Solanas is right. Maybe the best way to cure our problems is to eliminate at least half of the MALE population! After all, if we have a barrel of apples, we do not throw the good apples out to get rid of the rotten ones and in humans, the rotten apples are far more often the MALES. Yes, sometimes we have to throw out some good ones to get all the bad ones but as long as they have testicles, that is fine with me. At least it will be safe for all women and girls since half of the males will be gone. And some wonder why many of us know that women are the superior sex and males are by far the inferior sex.

One thing we know from this article (War on girls) is that there are fewer wars and much less violence when there are far fewer males then women. Would that not tell us the problem is not because of women but because of those of us who are inferior because we have a PENIS and TESTICLES as well as a MALE brain that goes with them?
Aug 18, 2011 11:38 PM
Guest :
My brother is a shift supervisor in a large factory and he has about two dozen men and a dozen women working for him He states that the women do twice as much as the males and they do it better than the males. If he needs something done right away, he always asks one of the women to do it since he can't depend upon any of the males. If he had his way, he would never hire another male but he would only have women working for him. He now says that women are superior and of course I agree with him.
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