A top US fertility doctor has claimed that senior British politicians are travelling to his clinic in America to get around the law and choose the sex of their baby.
Sex selection for social reasons was outlawed in the UK by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act.
But now a leading fertility doctor in New York has claimed that British politicians are flying to his American clinic to get around the ban.
Outlawed
Dr Jeffrey Steinberg, who heads a fertility clinic in Manhattan, said: “I have had leading British politicians from the UK coming here, to this office, for services that are outlawed in the UK.”
Each year dozens of British couples fly to the clinic and shell out thousands of pounds so that they can choose the sex of their baby.
Dr Steinberg, who was trained in Britain, estimates that he has helped 400 couples from Britain select the sex of their baby.
Abortions
While sex selection for social reasons is banned in the UK it is allowed if there is a risk of a child being born with a serious sex-linked medical condition.
Earlier this year an investigation by the Daily Telegraph revealed that women were being granted abortions after telling doctors their baby is the ‘wrong sex’.
The Health Secretary Andrew Lansley responded by launching an inquiry.