Latest news with #GenderSelectionAustralia
New York Post
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Single mom, influencer defends gender selection of new baby: ‘For me'
An Aussie mother who has been the center of controversy over her decision to choose her baby's gender has defended her actions on radio. Caitlin Bailey, from Melbourne, is a single mom with two sons and a daughter. Advertisement However, she always wanted two children of each biological sex so she spent $45,000 to fly to America for IVF treatment that allowed her to fulfil this dream. Gender selection is banned in Australia due to the ethics involved, meaning Bailey had to use the services of Californian doctor Daniel Potter via Gender Selection Australia. But, her actions divided public opinion — and now the 31-year-old influencer is defending her decision to do so. She told The Fox's Fifi, Fev & Nick that she knew she'd face a lot of judgement for going through with it but at the end of the day it was 'my body, my family.' Advertisement 'People don't know me. The media will take what they want to take. I'd be silly to think they're not going to do that. I can assure you that I'm a good person and I love my kids. I would do anything for my children, at the end of the day they are the most important thing in the world to me. I'm not doing this to make other people upset or cause controversy,' she said. Caitlin Bailey, a single mom with two sons from Melbourne, Australia, has drawn controversy for choosing her baby's gender while on the radio show The Fox's Fifi, Fev & Nick. instagram/ 'I purely made this choice for me. There are so many different arguments and opinions. It does hurt my feelings when I see negative comments. I don't want that, and I don't mean to hurt these people.' Bailey said she documented her journey on her social media account, where she boasts 60,000 followers, because there was no one on her feed like her. Advertisement 'I'm not telling people, 'You should all do sex-selection, and you should do this too.' I'm just saying it's an option,' she said. 'We've got the technology and medical advancement to make this an option.' Radio star Fifi Box defended Bailey's decision, saying when she was going through IVF with her second pregnancy she thought it would be much easier to have another daughter. The Aussie media personality said she thought it was a 'shame' that Bailey felt the need to defend herself. Advertisement Bailey wanted two children, each of the same biological sex, and spent $45,000 to go to America to receive IVF treatment. instagram/ One of the big points brought up in the last few days is how much money Bailey spent, which she said came from her savings. The influencer argued that she could have spent that much money on IVF anyway, and that she was saving money because if she tried to conceive naturally she would have kept going until she had another daughter. 'I think it's more responsible to do it this way than try to have another three or four kids, and if I kept having boys I would still feel like I wouldn't have felt that content feeling,' she said. Sex selection is banned in Australia, however it was temporarily available in New South Wales between 1999 and 2004. Now, the only caveat is certain medical exemptions based on gender — for instance if a couple carries genes for conditions such as muscular dystrophy, which predominantly impacts males.
News.com.au
15-05-2025
- Health
- News.com.au
‘For me': Single mum defends banned baby act
An Aussie mother who has been the centre of controversy over her decision to choose her baby's gender has defended her actions on radio. Caitlin Bailey, from Melbourne, is a single mum with two sons and a daughter. However, she always wanted two children of each biological sex so she spent $45,000 to fly to America for IVF treatment that allowed her to fulfil this dream. Gender selection is banned in Australia due to the ethics involved, meaning Ms Bailey had to use the services of Californian doctor Daniel Potter via Gender Selection Australia. But, her actions divided public opinion — and now the 31-year-old influencer is defending her decision to do so. She told The Fox's Fifi, Fev & Nick that she knew she'd face a lot of judgement for going through with it but at the end of the day it was 'my body, my family'. 'People don't know me. The media will take what they want to take. I'd be silly to think they're not going to do that. I can assure you that I'm a good person and I love my kids. I would do anything for my children, at the end of the day they are the most important thing in the world to me. I'm not doing this to make other people upset or cause controversy,' she said. 'I purely made this choice for me. There are so many different arguments and opinions. It does hurt my feelings when I see negative comments. I don't want that, and I don't mean to hurt these people.' Ms Bailey said she documented her journey on her social media account, where she boasts 60,000 followers, because there was no one on her feed like her. 'I'm not telling people, 'You should all do sex-selection, and you should do this too.' I'm just saying it's an option,' she said. 'We've got the technology and medical advancement to make this an option.' Radio star Fifi Box defended Ms Bailey's decision, saying when she was going through IVF with her second pregnancy she thought it would be much easier to have another daughter. The Aussie media personality said she thought it was a 'shame' that Ms Bailey felt the need to defend herself. One of the big points brought up in the last few days is how much money Ms Bailey spent, which she said came from her savings. The influencer argued that she could have spent that much money on IVF anyway, and that she was saving money because if she tried to conceive naturally she would have kept going until she had another daughter. 'I think it's more responsible to do it this way than try to have another three or four kids, and if I kept having boys I would still feel like I wouldn't have felt that content feeling,' she said. Sex selection is banned in Australia, however it was temporarily available in New South Wales between 1999 and 2004. Now, the only caveat is certain medical exemptions based on gender — for instance if a couple carries genes for conditions such as muscular dystrophy, which predominantly impacts males.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Australian Influencer Pushes Back Against Criticism for Traveling to U.S. for Sex-Selective IVF: 'Makes Me Feel Sick'
Australian influencer Caitlin Bailey is facing backlash after she went viral for traveling to the U.S. and undergoing sex-selective IVF, which is banned in Australia The influencer, who is also a single mom of three, spent about $45,000 total to conceive her fourth baby, according to Courier Mail She is due with her baby daughter in AugustAustralian influencer Caitlin Bailey is focusing on the positive after getting some backlash this past week. The influencer, who made waves online after sharing that she'd traveled to the U.S. and paid $45,000 to use in vitro fertilization (IVF) to ensure her fourth baby would be a girl, pushed back against criticism she'd received in a statement posted to her Instagram Stories. Sex-selective IVF is banned in Bailey's home country of Australia. "I also wanted to come on because I'm like, woah. I'm getting flooded with messages. I did an interview last week with a reporter just to talk a little bit about my story with Gender Selection Australia and yeah my journey and why I decided to share and a little bit about that," Bailey says in a video posted to her Instagram on Monday, May 12. "And I had no idea how much it was going to blow up." Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Gender Selection Australia is an organization based out of Australia that aims to help Australian families "complete their families by choosing the gender of their baby." The single mom goes on to say that this type of thing makes her very anxious and she just wanted to share her story in the hopes that it might help someone else. "I chose to share my story and my journey purely because I thought if there's people out there that it could potentially help and not feel so alone, that's why I shared it," she says. "I didn't share it to start online arguments or have troll conversations online." "It makes me feel sick to my stomach to think about the negative side of things. I'm all about positivity. And so yeah it's just a good reminder, if you have nothing nice to say, please refrain," Bailey asks. "I'm trying to just be really positive. And yeah with this all going on it's just freaking me out thinking what's potentially to come. But I'm just going to stay positive." Bailey spoke with the Courier Mail in an interview published Tuesday, May 13, and shared with the outlet that although she already has two boys and a girl whom she conceived naturally, she'd always envisioned herself having two boys and two girls. She went on to spend about $45,000, including travel costs, to pursue sex-selective IVF in the United States. "Everybody gets a brother, everybody gets a sister," Bailey told the outlet. "I really love that they're close in age." Bailey continued, saying that as a single mom, she wasn't interested in dating apps and noted that there were "so many variables" involved in waiting for a potential partner. Once she found Gender Selection Australia, she underwent testing and selected a U.S. sperm donor. The influencer went on two trips to the U.S. to have her eggs retrieved and implanted and is now expecting her baby girl in August. The outlet also spoke with human rights expert Paula Gerber from Monash University's Law Faculty, who explained that non-medical sex-selective IVF has been banned in Australia since 2004 and was necessary to prevent sex imbalances and the reinforcement of sexist and discriminatory stereotypes. "Legitimizing sex selection is contrary to our societal values around diversity, equality and the intrinsic worth of every individual," Gerber said. "Other ethical concerns relate to the commodification of children; treating them as products tailored to parental preference, rather than as individuals who are unconditionally loved and accepted for who they are." Although Bailey knows that sex-selective IVF is "controversial," she told the outlet she's not sure why it's not an option in Australia. "If we've got [technology] that allows us to do this and it's not hurting anybody, I don't understand why it's not an option," she said. Read the original article on People
Daily Mail
14-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Aussie influencer responds to public outrage after travelling to the US to undergo banned $45,000 procedure
Australian influencer Caitlin Bailey has responded to public outrage over her decision to travel to the United States to access sex selective IVF. The Melbourne-based single mum sparked heated debate over her choice to spend $45,000 on the procedure, which has allowed her to select the gender of her unborn baby. Caitlin makes a living as a 'mumfluencer' and has three children - two sons and a daughter aged between one and five - who were conceived naturally. Gender selection is banned in Australia on ethical grounds. Caitlin, 31, is due to give birth to her second daughter in August, and this week told the Courier Mail that she has always wanted two children of each gender. 'Everybody gets a brother, everybody gets a sister,' she explained. 'I really love that they're close in age.' Caitlin said she had heard of sex selective IVF 'loosely' before she decided to seek out Gender Selection Australia, an organisation that partners with California-based doctor Daniel Potter. Dr Potter has a large following in Australia, having appeared on both 60 Minutes and The Today Show, and estimates his sex selection services have led to thousands of Australian births in the last 20 years. In the US, mothers can opt to be implanted with only female or only male eggs. Caitlin travelled to the US after selecting an American sperm donor and described the process as 'a bit like online shopping.' It has been 10 years since medical experts have reviewed whether or not it should be legal to select the gender of the child in Australia. Hundreds of parents travel to the US each year to undergo the process, but Caitlin's story has struck a public nerve. On Tuesday, Sunrise reporter Andrew McCormack divided viewers when he asked about the case. 'My first gut instinct is no. So, yeah, no. But there is no real reason for it, I just feel like let the population be kind of natural and don't interfere,' one viewer said. On Wednesday, Caitlin Bailey defended her decision to undergo the sex selective IVF and thanked the people who had shown her support after her story hit national news 'People should have autonomy over their own body. So, what they want to do is up to them. I personally would like the luck of the draw. It is a bit more fun when you don't know what to expect,' another argued. Caitlin also appeared on 7News Melbourne to discuss her story. On Wednesday, she took to her Instagram to thank her supporters and respond to backlash she has received since going public. 'I am genuinely sorry if anything that I choose to do in my life upsets anybody else, that would never be my intention and I would truly never want to hurt anybody, I know that I am a good person with a good heart.' Sharing a photo of her unborn daughter's latest ultrasound, she wrote: 'I'm forever grateful that I'm lucky enough to have you join our family and to be your mum. You'll never know anything but love and support from me and your big sister and brothers. 'I want to take a quick moment to thank everybody who's taken the time to send me the most beautiful, supportive, loving messages over the past 24 hours,' Caitlin continued. 'I honestly had no idea that things were going to be shared so heavily in the media and I have been absolutely slammed with both positive and negative messages.' Caitlin explained that her only goal was to share her experience 'in the hopes that it may help people out there who have the same struggles and feelings that I do.' 'My journey and choices do not mean that I am ungrateful for my children, and that I don't truly know how blessed I am,' she continued. 'I promise you, my kids know nothing but love, support, happiness and peace in their lives and I strive every day to give them the best lives and make sure they know how treasured and special they are.'
News.com.au
13-05-2025
- Health
- News.com.au
Aussie mum sparks national debate after revealing she travelled to the US to seek IVF and choose the gender of her fourth child
An Australian mother has sparked a national debate after she travelled to the US for fertility treatment to choose the gender of her fourth child. Influencer Caitlin Bailey told the Herald Sun that she spent $45,000 to attend a fertility clinic in Los Angelos to conceive a baby girl. The mother of two boys and one girl aged between one and five always wanted two of each sex, so she contacted Gender Selection Australia (GSA) about conceiving another girl as a single parent. The clinic puts Australian families in touch with Californian-based fertility doctor Daniel Potter, who specialises in gender selection to balance families as well as genetic disease screening. Gender selection to balance families is generally banned in Australia, so hundreds of Australian families travel overseas to choose the gender of their baby via IVF, according to GSA's website. The practice is only permitted in Australia to reduce the risk of transmitting serious genetic conditions, diseases or abnormalities from future generations. Connect IVF scientific director Lauren Hiser said while it was possible to know the sex of an embryo prior to it being transferred to a woman's uterus, sex could only be selected in Australia when a genetic component was involved in IVF. Gender selection through IVF was available in NSW between 1999 and 2004, which Ms Hiser said was used mostly for family balancing reasons so people could select the sex they were desiring before pregnancy. 'Whenever people hear about sex selection, they are always very concerned that people are selecting boys over girls, that's the first thing that comes to people's mind,' she said. 'If you look into the data when it was available in NSW, between 1999 and 2004 the ratios did not change. 'In the patients that were able to select based solely on sex, they were actually choosing more girls and doing it for family balancing reasons. 'But sex selection is happening in Australia, it's just not happening within the IVF realm.' A La Trobe University study found that Australian families were terminating pregnancies following non-invasive prenatal testing to find out the sex of their child. Researchers found a cultural preference for sons among some ethnic groups led to more boys than girls being born in Victoria. The naturally occurring ratio worldwide was 105 boys born to every 100 girls; however, the study showed there were 108 and 109 boys born respectively to Indian and Chinese-born mothers for every 100 girls born between 1999-2015 in Victoria. La Trobe Judith Lumley Centre lead researcher Kristina Edvardsson believed some women may be terminating pregnancies after discovering they were expecting a girl and, in other cases, travelled overseas to access non-medical sex selection services through assisted reproduction. 'We know even Australian-born women and men can choose to go overseas and select the sex of their baby, but what we can see from the sex ratios in the Australian-born group is that it's not skewed to any gender,' she said. Ms Hiser said gender selection and whether it should be introduced to minimise harm was an ethical discussion. 'If there are people already getting pregnant, then testing a pregnancy and choosing to terminate, well, could we as an industry stop that from happening?' she said. 'Could we select an embryo before it becomes a pregnancy so people do not have to go through medical terminations or anything more drastic?' Ms Hiser said other international jurisdictions introduced gender selection as a way of reducing infanticide, backyard abortions and other things that could cause harm. 'We have a group of people in Australia that are looking for the services and are willing to travel internationally to achieve that,' she said. 'We have great IVF service in Australia that can do all that, but we are sending our patients overseas to jurisdictions that may not be as well set up, that have higher risks associated and certainly higher costs. 'There's a lot of ethical considerations to be had if we should be selecting for sex or not.' Ms Hiser said reproductive technology laws in Australia sent a lot of citizens overseas to seek treatment. 'People looking for surrogacy, it's not easy to do in Australia so they go overseas, certainly for sex selection and some donor situations as well,' she said. 'Because our laws don't support it, it's easier for people to access that outside of Australia.'
