Reality TV star Kim Kardashian and rapper Kanye West had undergone an elaborate and controversial in vitro fertilization gender selection process this spring to make sure that they have a son this time.
A source close to the couple, who are parents of a 24-month-old girl, has confirmed to Us Weekly that Kardashian has asked specifically only for the male embryos to be implanted, due to which the IVF experts isolated fertilized embryos of the preferred sex in a lab, before transferring them into the reality TV star's uterus.
The said procedure is quite controversial as doctors has to take several cells out of an embryo and do a DNA analysis of all 23 pairs of chromosomes. The procedure is often deemed as an "invasive" one and many IVF clinics even refuse to address gender choices while implantation.
The gender selection process while IVF has often come under fire lately, especially when the couple are choosing the specific gender of the child for more personal reasons rather than a medical one. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine has even addressed the issue this year acknowledging the controversy and calling it a sexist approach.
"The committee opposes meeting requests for sex selection for personal and family reasons, including family balancing, because of the concern that such requests may ultimately support sexist practices," Dr. Eve Feinberg, medical director of Fertility Centers of Illinois' Center for Fertility Preservation told Yahoo! Parenting.
The specific selection of gender in IVF adds extra $5,000 to $7,000 to the cost of fertility treatment, which runs about $12,000. However, since the inability of the Kardashian to conceive naturally was widely reported in the last few months, there is no indication that she only got IVF in order to select her baby's gender.