High-tech sex-selection techniques

The following gender-selection methods draw from two existing infertility treatments: in vitro fertilization (IVF) and artificial insemination (AI). IVF starts with a round of fertility drugs to stimulate your ovaries to produce several eggs for fertilization, instead of the single egg you normally release each month. Fertility drugs may also be used for AI. For AI, also known as intrauterine insemination (IUI), your doctor uses a catheter to insert a concentrated sperm sample directly into your uterus.

For IVF, fertilization occurs outside your body (in vitro means literally in glass). Your doctor gives you an anesthetic and removes your eggs from your ovaries by inserting a needle through your vaginal wall. Your eggs are then fertilized with sperm in a petri dish. Two to five days later your doctor places the fertilized eggs — now embryos — in your uterus by inserting a thin catheter through your cervix. The number of embryos inserted depends on your age, the quality of the embryos, and your reproductive history. As a general rule, if you're under 35 and the embryos look healthy, no more than three are transferred.