• Question: How common is it for women that are fertile to opt for IVF just to be able to "choose" their baby's charateristics?

    Asked by jorgaliee to Claire, Greg, Jane, Vicki on 24 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Jane Cleal

      Jane Cleal answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      Hi, this is not allowed, for a woman to have ivf treatment her or her partner must have a medical problem that means they cannot get pregnant, or they must have been trying to get pregnant for at least 3 years with no sucess.

    • Photo: Claire O'Donnell

      Claire O'Donnell answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      Hi jorgaliee,You can’t choose a child’s characteristics with IVF I’m glad to say. Children are people not accessories:)
      For NHS treatment you have to have something wrong with you medically to get IVF. I suppose there might be a clinic somewhere that would treat you if you paid them enough if you didn’t have a fertility problem but IVF is pretty tough both physically and mentally so I don’t think many people wouild choose it unless they had to.

    • Photo: Vicki Onions

      Vicki Onions answered on 23 Jun 2010:

      Hi jorgaliee
      Its not common at all in this country as its not allowed as far as i know, so no woman can choose her babies characteristics following IVF in the UK. The only thing they do sometimes do is screen the embryos for genetic abnormalities if there is a histroy in the family, to prevent putting an embryo back that would develop severe genetic problems – this is called PGD (preimplantation genetic diagnosis)

    • Photo: Greg FitzHarris

      Greg FitzHarris answered on 24 Jun 2010:

      Good question,
      In this country you cant do that. You can select embryos to transfer back to the woman in some cases if, for example, there is a strong family history of a genetic disorder. In that case there are some tests out there for spotting which embryos have the disorder,m and which dont.

      In some cases where genetic disorders are associated with sex (ie girls get it but boys dont), its possible to select the sex of your child… but (as i understand it)… only for that reason. You cant even select childs sex just for reasons of ‘preferance’

      certainly you cant do designer babies in the uk…… (yet)

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