Yes or no:

Choosing whether you will have a boy or a girl

Choosing whether your child will come into the world as a boy or a girl: it is possible. Not if you get pregnant au naturel, but with IVF it’s a piece of cake (an egg, yes) to place your preference back. Chrissy Teigen and John Legend did it and they make no secret of it. 

Chrissy and John had to undergo IVF due to fertility issues. Being able to choose the gender was actually a bonus, but now it turns out that more and more prospective parents are choosing this method precisely for this reason. And then you get the question: is this allowed, should this be possible? In IVF, embryos are tested for faulty or missing chromosomes, and an extra effect of this research is that you know the gender. Chrissy Teigen and John Legend specifically chose for a royal couple, first a daughter and then a son, in that order. In the USA, it is allowed; about twenty percent of couples undergoing IVF have no issues with having children.

In the Netherlands, it is prohibited. For example, with a NIPT test, you also do not get to know whether you will have a boy or a girl, even though they can see this. For those unfamiliar with the test: after eleven weeks of pregnancy, you can have a blood test to check if there is an increased chance of a chromosomal abnormality. But the gender remains hidden for a while, to minimize the chance of abortions. This is where I get a bit confused. Are there really people who do this? And my first feeling says: then give them IVF for God's sake, so this cannot happen. But then you have God and nature – it depends a bit on what you believe – who make this impossible right now. IVF also helps nature a bit, but differently...

I find it a bit creepy. If you can choose because you already need IVF, why not? But ordering a daughter or son feels wrong. In my mind, I am waiting for the first order with blonde hair, blue eyes, and high IQ. And I cannot imagine that this is the intention of having children. What do you think?

Source: Vogue.com