Chrissy Teigen defends choosing her baby's sex
The mum-to-be chose to have a daughter
Chrissy Teigen has revealed she chose to have a daughter when undergoing IVF.
Chrissy's first child with her husband of 2 years, John Legend, is due this Spring.
"I’ve made this decision," she told People. "Not only am I having a girl, but I picked the girl from her little embryo. I picked her and was like, 'Let’s put in the girl.'"
"I think I was most excited and allured by the fact that John would be the best father to a little girl. That excited me. It excited me to see… just the thought of seeing him with a little girl. I think he deserves a little girl.
"I think he deserves that bond. A boy will come along. We’ll get there too, so it’s not like we really have to pick. But he definitely is very lucky to have a little girl. And this girl is going to be so completely lucky to have John as her papa — it’s crazy!"
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The mum-to-be's frank gender-selection admission had a mixed reaction from fans.
"What happens if u kid decides ‘she' wants 2 identify as 'he'?" one follower tweeted. "Y is picking gender important unless u hope 2 enforce it?"
"What in the…she can do whatever she wants," Chrissy replied.. "People really reaching for outrage here."
And Chrissy was happy to explain further.
"What year is this!? And for the record, I am always happy and open to speak on infertility. The more casual, the better! I don't mind," she tweeted.
She then joked that she picked the embryo on other qualities too: "I also picked the embryo with a taste for bacon, a knack for magic and size 7 feet so she can always find shoes."
As the discussion continued, Chrissy explained she's planning a big family – with both boys and girls.
"We didn't create a little girl. We had multiple embryos. Girls and boys. We simply chose to put in a female first (and second)..." she explained. "We didn't 'throw away' anything and still would love to have more of both in the future."
Is sex selection legal in the UK?
It's illegal to select embryos of a particular sex for implantation for social reasons in the UK.
It can only be done here for medical reasons, for example, to avoid giving birth to children with a sex-linked genetic disorder like Duchenne muscular dystrophy, which only effects boys (girls are just carriers of the gene).
In the USA sex selection for social reasons or otherwise is legal – which is why growing numbers of couples from Europe and elsewhere travel there for treatment.
The World Health Organisation has stated that sex selection for non-medical reasons "raises serious moral, legal, and social issues".
Principal issues include, "the distortion of the natural sex ratio leading to a gender imbalance" and because it can "reinforce discriminatory and sexist stereotypes towards women by devaluing females".
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