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Pros of Gender Selection

Gender selection provides expectant parents a choice in choosing gender instead of letting it be a 50/50 chance. Through many different methods of gender selection, such as The Shettles Method and choosing the gender before doing in-vitro fertilization, couples choose the gender for a variety of reasons.

  1. Population Control

    • Population control is a benefit to gender selection, as many couples no longer feel the need to keep trying until they get a child with a specific gender. Many couples want a boy and a girl and will continue to conceive children until they have at least one of each. In the instances where a couple conceives multiples of the same gender, they might have more children than they originally intended.

    Family Balancing

    • Many individuals and couples know beforehand how many children they want to have and what genders they would prefer. A family who wants to have two boys and two girls has the ability to increase the chances of having four children in these specific genders -- not only the amount of boys and girls, but also the order in which they arrive. A couple might want a boy first and a girl second, which gender selection can help with.

    Economic Benefits

    • Gender selection provides economic benefits to families with multiple children. Say for instance a couple's first child is a girl. They might not want to, or be able to, purchase clothing, toys and other baby items for a boy. By choosing to have another girl with gender selection, they will be able to pass down the first child's belongings to the next girl in the family.

    The Shettles Method

    • Gender selection is most often done by using the Shettles Method, which includes timing intercourse based on the speed in which the X and Y chromosome swim and other characteristics. Sperm carrying the X chromosome (female) are found to swim faster but die off quicker, so for this reason, having intercourse closer to ovulation has a higher chance of the baby being a girl. On the other hand, having intercourse further from ovulation might result in a boy because the Y chromosome (male) swim slower but live longer. Gender selection isn't used frequently, but it is becoming more popular as couples discover the possibilities of it.

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