It's a boy!
It's a girl!
These are the special words that
used to be an exciting part of the whole childbearing process. But not anymore
for some parents, thanks to fertility doctor Jeffrey Steinberg, who has
perfected the art of baby making through a process fairly similar to invitro fertilization.
Steinberg practices at The Fertility
Institute in Los Angeles and has made this method of choosing your baby’s sex
as popular as implants and Botox. This new "method" is called
MicroSort, and the way it works goes back to basic human biology and a little
bit of medical technology. It's a well-known fact that the sperm carries the
chromosome that determines the sex of the baby it is producing.
So, in this method, the doctor
separates the Y-chromosomes, boys, from the X chromosomes, girls, then the
sperm is stained by a dye, so that it is easier to distinguish the chromosomes
from each other (the X's are bigger than the Y's).
The dyed sperm is then zapped
with a laser, making it even easier to separate the chromosomes. The X and Y-chromosomes
are separated by passing through an electrode that gives the X's a positive
charge and the Y's a negative charge. Now the two separate samples are ready to
be used to fertilize the egg and create the baby of the parent's choice.
Although this procedure may seem
intriguing or even tempting for future parents, the cost may be a major setback.
For the MicroSort method, the final cost comes out to be approximately$18,480
plus travel. That's the equivalent to a car, when you have a 50/50chance of
conceiving the sex of your choice.
Students at Marian were
intrigued by the idea, and formed contrasting opinions.
Senior Lindsey Panneton thinks
the new method is exciting, and would even consider it for her own children one
day. "I wouldn't do it for my first child, but maybe for my second or
third," said Panneton.
Senior Erin Curran has a
different view. "I think the whole idea of picking your baby's gender is
kind of weird. It's almost like you are trying to play God."