Belgian gynaecologist fined for offering illegal gender selection

A Belgian gynaecologist who injected women with specially-prepared sperm cells so they could choose the sex of their babies has been fined €5,500, reports the Daily Mail. At least 165 women paid about €1,200 to be treated by Dr Frank Sterckx in his private clinic at Borgehout, near Antwerp - despite the fact gender selection was made illegal in Belgium in 2007. Dr Sterckx's clients were mostly Dutch couples, desperate for either a boy or a girl, who had been referred from a gender clinic run by businessman Bert van Delen, 55, in Holland, where the practice is also illegal. The court was told that the couples had been promised that the chances of getting a baby with the desired sex was about 80%, using an illegal laboratory technique known as albumin. This involves using a centrifuge to separate the X chromosomes in the sperm cells - most likely to result in a female birth - from the male Y chromosomes. The court in Antwerp heard how Dr Sterckx then injected the 'right' sperm ordered by his client. “I never realised that I was doing anything wrong,” Sterckx told a Dutch TV programme which revealed the illegal trade. Businessman van Delen was named the key figure in the illegal baby racket. “He pocketed most of the money,” said judge Luc Potargent. “He acted out of a desire to make a profit, not idealism.” He was given a one-year suspended sentence. In Belgium, gender selection is only allowed when one of the parents has a sickness which can be passed on such as certain muscular diseases which occur mainly in males, said Belgian gynaecologist Kaan Osmanagaoglu. “I am often asked for help by couples with, say three or four girls who desperately want a boy,” he said. “I can do nothing although their wish to select the gender is justified. The legal ban just drives these people into the arms of charlatans who only want to make a profit .”