Los Angeles Times
Westside Weekly
by Marcela Rojas
Babies Made to Order?
WESTWOOD - In keeping with Chinese tradition,
Francis and Alex Mayne knew how important it was for them and their family to
have a son to carry on the family name.
After having two healthy girls, the Maynes did not want to risk having a third
girl.
"My chances of having a boy are 50/50," said the 30-year-old Glendale resident.
"I needed my ratios to be higher because three children was my maximum. I would
have stopped at two but there was something inside me that said I want a son.
To combat their dilemma, the Maynes decided to try a procedure called "gender
preselection."
Fortunately for the Maynes, Dr. Jaroslav Marik, considered to be the only doctor
in Los Angeles to offer gender preselection, has been performing this procedure
for the last 30 years from the Tyler Medical Center in Westwood.
"The chances of having a boy are 75 to 80% through this procedure," Marik said.
The chances of having a female are at 65% to 70%."
The way gender preselection works is by sorting a man's sperm.
"A woman's eggs are always female," said Marik. "The man carries male and female
sperm. If a male sperm fertilizes the egg, then the child will be male."
Marik first collects the semen, which is cleaned in a centrifuge to get rid of
the dead and abnormal sperm. Marik estimates that 25% of a man's sperm is dead
and 25% is abnormal.
He then takes the remaining sperm and places it in a three-tiered cube filled
with blood protein.
Marik explained that since male sperm is lighter and swims faster than female
sperm, the male sperm will make it to the bottom of the cube and the female
sperm will remain in the top two layers.
The desired sex sperm is then artificially inseminated into the woman's uterus.
"The whole process of collecting the sperm and insemination takes two hours,"
Marik said. "About how long it takes to get your car fixed."
The cost of sorting the sperm is $125, not including insemination. Marik added
that there is no evidence that sperm sorting is harmful to the sperm or the
fetus.
After testing this technique in June 1997, the Maynes proudly announced the
birth of their son, Christopher Mayne, on Feb. 12, 1998.
"You know before you go in that this is only a chance," Mayne said. "It's not
100%. We just hoped for the best and if it wouldn't have worked out then it was
meant to be that we have another girl."
But while the Maynes relish in the new masculine addition to their family, there
are many who find gender preselection immoral and controversial even though it
is a legal procedure in the United States.
Dr. Alan DeCherney, chairman of the UCLA Department of obstetrics and gynecology
said that while he is not against gender preselection, there are a myriad
problems that can arise.
"Let's say a couple goes through this procedure and wants a boy," posed
DeCherney. "It doesn't work so they get an abortion. Is that right?"
DeCherney added that as far as he knows, Marik is the only doctor in Los Angeles
who performs this procedure.
"It is not a common practice because it is only modestly successful," DeCherney
said. Marik's figures seem pretty high. When there are better techniques, then
it will be more of a moral and ethical issue."
At the Fairfax Clinic in Virginia, investigators are testing a new laser
technique to sort sperm that has an 85% success rate, DeCherney said. The
American Society for Reproductive Medicine strongly frowns upon gender
preselection for family balancing purposes, said spokeswoman Debra Crawford.
"We feel that this technology is not designed so that doctors can play God and
help families in that way," Crawford said.
However, the society does think that gender preselection should be used to
benefit couples who are trying to avoid genetic diseases.
"When this technology is used to prevent an X-linked genetic disease such as
hemophilia or Duchenne's muscular dystrophy, public support is generally
strong," a 1994 report the society stated. "However, the use of technology
solely to fulfill parental preferences raises many questions...The fear is that
availability of preembryo gender selection, other than to prevent an X-linked
inherited disease, would foster gender discrimination and anti-social trends..."
Marik maintains that when he first started gender preselection in the early
'70s, it was done for the purposes of preventing couples from having children
with genetic diseases.
But in time, he extended it to couples who, for example, had two boys and wanted
a girl to balance out their family tree.
"I'm not playing God," says Marik. "If I was, then it would work 100% of the
time. I'm simply trying to accommodate a human wish."
