HUNDREDS of mothers-to-be could be travelling to the north for illegal sex-selection procedures each year, it emerged yesterday.
Following a report in the French newspaper, Le Parisien, that a French couple would come to Cyprus in 2011 to have the controversial, and illegal procedure done, one fertility clinic owner in the government-controlled areas, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “There are three fertility clinics in the occupied areas that are doing this (embryo sex-selection), and from my understanding they are very busy.” Asked about the number of patients, the doctor added: “They do a lot of this in the north. It is not possible to say exactly, but certainly more than one a week.”
There are two main methods of sex selection, sperm sorting and screening of in vitro fertilised embryos, known as “pre-implantation genetic diagnosis” (PGD). PGD sex selection for “medical” reasons is legal in many countries including the Republic of Cyprus and Turkey. It allows healthcare professionals to screen for hereditary diseases. “PGD can be done for medical reasons, or if the woman is over the age of 33 or 34” the clinic owner explained.
However, selection for “social” purposes, as in the case of the French couple that is visiting the occupied area, is illegal both in Cyprus and Turkey, who have both signed and ratified the 1997 Biomedicine Convention prohibiting social sex selection.
In the occupied areas, however, the procedure can be completed for €7,000, and one clinic, ‘North Cyprus IVF’, even advertises its gender selection services online to medical tourists.
“The Turkish-Cypriots in the occupied areas have not signed an agreement that sex selection can only be done for medical reasons.” said the clinic owner.
Under Cypriot law, PGD can only be done with the consent of the patient’s doctor. Asked whether depression following birth of an undesired baby, as was the case with the French tourist, counted, the clinic owner said “This would probably require the diagnosis of more than one doctor.”
Antonis Vassiliou, former President of the Cyprus Medical Association was harshly critical of the practice. “This procedure is not just Illegal but beyond the bounds of medical ethics. We are talking about a place that nobody else says is a country. Tourists are taking a chance and relying on authorities that are not recognised.” He added “I am very disappointed, as a person, as a doctor and as a Cypriot”.
