HFEA launches public consultation on 'sex selection'
23 October 2002
A consultation document published today by the Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority asks if it is right that people should be able to use assisted reproductive techniques to choose to the sex of their child and, if so, for what reasons. The views of members of the public and interested professionals and organisations are sought on a range of questions concerning the availability and regulation of sex selection techniques. At the end of the three month consultation period a report containing policy recommendations will be presented to Ministers.
The consultation is being carried out at the request of the Secretary of State for Health and has been funded by the Department of Health. Copies of the document, which will be circulated to organisations with a known interest in the issue, can be obtained from the HFEA. It is also posted on the HFEA website. Everyone is invited to respond.
The HFEA previously consulted on sex selection in 1993 and consequently confirmed its policy of permitting sex selection using licensed techniques only to avoid serious sex-linked genetic conditions. Since then, the range and effectiveness of techniques for sex selection have increased.
Sex selection can now be performed:
- before conception, where sperm are sorted according to whether they carry male or female chromosomes so that a woman can be inseminated with those of the desired sex;
- following in vitro fertilisation, where embryos are tested to select those of a particular sex for transfer.
Preconception sperm sorting, although not currently as reliable as the preimplantation testing of embryos, promises to combine the advantages of a comparatively uninvasive technique with the avoidance of unnecessary embryo creation. However, while preimplantation testing of embryos is closely regulated in the UK, sperm sorting, where it does not involve the use of donor sperm or the creation of embryos outside the body does not.
The consultation document asks whether sex selection techniques should be available for non-medial reasons such as ´family balancing', and whether sperm sorting should be regulated in the UK by the HFEA.
Announcing the publication of the document, HFEA chair Suzi Leather, said:
´The development of new assisted reproduction techniques presents challenges and poses new questions. I feel it is extremely important that people make their views heard on this important area of public policy.'
Ends
Notes to editors
The consultation closes on 22nd January 2003
Page last updated: 13 March 2009