So the the whole point here is that sex selection is possible but only using in vitro fertilization . The other thing that is becoming clear to us in more recent years is that sex selection is actually possible at the level of the sperm even prior to fertilization . This is an emerging data set and this is largely happening in clinics outside of the United States .
And um as I mentioned before , unhealthy chromosomal arrangements or abnormal chromosomal arrangements often lead to miscarriage or and or birth defects . So , selecting for healthy chromosomal arrangements is always paramount but some people are selecting for biological sex . And indeed , some couples who can conceive naturally are opting for IU I in order to be able to select biological sex because of this ability to spin out the sperm samples to um different fractions and select the male or female sperm .
And under those conditions , it is possible to look at the genetic makeup , including the karyotype of those early nascent embryos . In which case , people really can select the sex of their offspring . That is they will have some embryos that are xx , some embryos that are xy , it's very likely also that they will have some embryos that have ko types or genotypes , which are not ideal in that they would potentially lead to a miscarriage or some other genetic defect .
And so typically , people do not select to implant those embryos if they have the option to implant embryos , that are of either xx or xy karyotype and the normal chromosomal um arrangements for obvious reasons . So the the whole point here is that sex selection is possible but only using in vitro fertilization . The other thing that is becoming clear to us in more recent years is that sex selection is actually possible at the level of the sperm even prior to fertilization .
Um It's not commonplace most of the time people uh simply roll the dice as it as it were um by having either um intercourse and just hoping for or not caring if they get a male or female offspring . Um or in the instance of IVF selecting male or female offspring , sometimes largely on the basis of the chromosomal arrangements . So , of course , um some people might prefer to have one or the other biological sex as their offspring .
