Grieving couple want to choose baby's sex

A couple whose only daughter died following a bonfire accident last July have applied to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) for permission to try and conceive a baby girl through IVF. Louise and Alan Masterton want to use an embryo screening technique - PGD (preimplantation genetic diagnosis) - to choose the baby's sex.

Mrs Masterton was sterilised after the birth of her daughter Nicole, who was three years old when she died last year. The couple now want to use IVF to try for a baby girl, by removing Mrs Masterton's eggs and fertilising them with laser-sorted sperm from Mr Masterton. Laser-sorting can separate sperm carrying a male Y chromosome from those carrying an X chromosome, but the procedure is not 100 per cent effective. So the couple also want to use PGD, to ensure that only female embryos are put back into Mrs Masterton's womb. The couple, who have four boys aged between nine and 15 years, say they are not trying to replace their daughter, but want the chance to try for another girl. 'The technology exists for us to have a baby girl and we want to use it. Is that so wrong?' Mr Masterton told a Scottish newspaper last week.  

The HFEA is likely to turn down their application, as embryo sex screening is illegal in the UK, unless carried out for medical reasons - such as in families with a history of a serious gender-specific genetic condition. A spokesman for the authority said last week that the Mastertons had contacted them some time ago, and they had advised the couple to make an official application through one of the UK clinics that offers the procedure.