Couple Spends $100,000 on Seven Rounds of IVF to Guarantee a Girl Baby

Bioethics   |   Sarah Zagorski   |   Jul 9, 2015   |   8:42AM   |   Houston, TX

In Texas, a couple spent $100,000 on seven rounds of IVF to ensure that they would conceive a daughter after having two sons. The pair, Rose and Vincent Costa, told Yahoo Parenting that, “It’s been worth all the money we spent.”

Rose explained, “All my life, I wanted to be the mother of a daughter. I love my boys very much and wouldn’t change them for the world, but having a girl is really important to me. You feel incomplete as a mother until you have a girl.”

Although initially this sounds like an innocent desire, it’s important to understand that through the process of in-vitro fertilization countless embryos are discarded and destroyed.

Rose added that she knows the process is looked down upon by some but still believes she did what was best for her family. She said, “I know it’s something a bit controversial, but I also know that a lot of people, women especially, who have this kind of desire would like to know more about this; how it works and what they could do.”

As LifeNews previously reported, when doctors use IVF for sex-selection and other reasons the extra embryos that are created or implanted in the mother’s uterus are oftentimes done away with. Rebecca Taylor,a clinical laboratory specialist in molecular biology, described the  IVF process this way: “They are not just making embryos of one sex. They are making a batch of embryos of both sexes and choosing to transfer only the ones of the desired sex. The others are likely discarded, donated to research to be ripped apart, or abandoned to wait for another couple to adopt them.”

Additionally, last year the Daily Mail reported that more and more people are traveling oversees to America to choose the sex of their next child. Although many countries ban sex-selection IVF and abortion, America does not, which is why couples are traveling to our country to get what they want.

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Here’s more of Rose and Vincent’s IVF story:

While selecting embryos based on sex is banned in some European countries – some people fear that picking and choosing embryos based on issues unrelated to health will lead to ‘designer’ babies – it is perfectly legal in the US. In fact, the New York Post reported that one New York and Los Angeles-based doctor has seen a 250 per cent increase of sex-selection services in the past five years.

But that doesn’t mean people don’t have mixed feelings about it – even in the Costas’ own family. Some of their family members didn’t agree with their plan, which involved using contraception throughout the three years that they tried to conceive via IVF, to ensure that they didn’t accidentally conceive a boy naturally.

While they have been actively trying for three years, the couple first decided on their plan eight years ago – but they wanted to be financially independent before they embarked on the pricey journey. That meant going on one vacation a year, rather than three, and nixing plans to add a pool and a patio extension to their home.

They also did not anticipate needing quite as many rounds of IVF as they did. During the first round, all five embryos were male, which left Rose ‘upset’ not to get the outcome she expected. Then, in 2013, Rose had a miscarriage. But they didn’t give up hope. Rose said:  ‘[Vincent] told me that he knew how much I wanted a girl, so he supported me. He always kept saying, “Let’s try. You can do one more time.”’ Finally, Rose successfully conceived a girl this year, and is now four months pregnant. She’s excitedly planning her all-pink nursery, and recently registered for gifts.  ‘At this point, I just want to appreciate each moment,’ she said.

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