Australian couple explains why they spent $50k to have a baby girl

An Australian couple who spent $50,000 on gender selection treatment have opened up to TODAY about their desperate struggle to conceive a baby girl.

Jayne and Jonathan Cornwill were already parents to three healthy boys when they decided to mortgage their home and travel to California for the procedure.

“My husband wanted a little girl that one day he could walk down the aisle, I wanted a daughter so that I could have that relationship, the bond between a mother and a daughter and our sons wanted a sister,” Jayne told TODAY.

“It was just completing our family puzzle.”

Gender selection is currently illegal in Australia so they had no choice but to go overseas for the treatment.

Using IVF, Jayne’s eggs were fertilized with Jonathan’s sperm and only female embryos were implanted in Jayne’s womb.

The first attempt failed and the Cornwill's were devastated but they tried again and nine months later a beautiful baby girl named Emmerson was born.

The Cornwills said that when they tell people about their experience, they are often met with harsh judgement.

Jonathan explains gender selection is simply a variant of IVF.

“You can’t design hair colour, eye colour, height, weight… it’s purely myself and herself being put together as a normal IVF procedure which many people around the world use.”

Jayne adds those who don’t have a need for gender selection treatment should simply not use it.

“Don’t take that choice away from someone else because you don’t know how much it might mean to them.”

The Cornwills have two more female embryos on ice in case they decide to add to their family.

They have donated one of their male embryos to another unidentified couple.

Jonathan said “if we can make someone else’s dreams come true… we’d do it again. Absolutely”.