'Absolutely ridiculous': Controversial IVF gender selection called out by Today mums
A Melbourne influencer and single mother-of-four's decision to travel to the US to select her new baby's gender has sparked controversy among the Today team.
Caitlyn Bailey, who has two boys and a girl, flew to the US and paid $45,000 to ensure her next pregnancy would be another girl.
However, the debate around "playing god" has been reignited, with two Today reporters suggesting any expectant mum should feel blessed if their baby is healthy, regardless of gender.
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A Melbourne mum-of-four's decision to select her new baby's gender has sparked debate around the ethics of such a procedure. Getty
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"As a mother-of-two who has suffered a miscarriage, I think it's absolutely ridiculous," Today Gold Coast reporter, Mia Glover said.
"I know a lot of women who have gone through IVF to even get one child and I think you should be happy with what you've got."
Today news presenter, Jayne Azzopardi, underwent IVF and embryo testing to have her two sons and she seconded Mia's thoughts on the gender selection controversy.
"It annoys me too, like Mia, I had several miscarriages and I had to go through IVF to have my children," she said.
"I did genetic testing on my embryos to give the best possible chance and I'm a mum of two boys and people always say, 'would you go back and try for a girl?' And no, I love my two boys.
"I am so happy with the children that I've got and I think, exactly what Mia said, you know, the children you are given are the ones that you were meant to be given, so I don't like the idea of being able to just say, 'oh, now I want a girl.'"
Mia Glover and Jayne Azzopardi (L-R) both know how lucky they are to have healthy, happy children. Today
Co-hosts Karl Stefanovic, Sarah Abo and Danika Mason agreed with what the two mums said, but raised the important point of how gene selection could be necessary.
"The counter to that is obviously there are huge advancements being made in technology, which allow you to eliminate certain diseases, if you choose to do that, then if you have one, why not the other?" Karl said.
"I think on health grounds it's different, if you're able to remove a certain genetic mutation from an embryo, then of course you would do that so you can stop it from going into the next generation - but the gender thing is just murky, that's a whole different issue," Sarah added.
The gender selection procedure in IVF is not available in Australia and clinics offering it could face jail time.
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