HOUSTON -- Houston-area couples will take part in a controversial medical trial that would allow them pick the gender of their baby, KPRC Local 2 reported Thursday.

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston were given permission to conduct a clinical trial to examine the effects of gender selection.

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Baby Gender Selection Debated

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Fertility specialists will use a technique called pre-implantation genetics diagnosis to determine the gender of an embryo. Then, the parents will choose between male or female embryos to be implanted in the mother's uterus.

PGD is already used by fertility clinics around the world to select healthy embryos if a child has a high risk of inheriting a genetic disease.

The technique is used at Houston's Obstetrical & Gynecological Associates.

"There are patients who, for personal reasons, mostly for what we call family balancing reasons, would like to have a child of one sex or the other," said Dr. George Gruenert, with OGA.

But Gruenert uses PGD for medical purposes.

Baylor got the green light for what's considered social sex selection -- choosing a baby's sex for non-medical reasons.

Gruenert has had patients asking for the science to ensure one sex over the other.

"Use of sex selection in an embryo for family balancing is acceptable. And what we've seen, although the numbers are small, is fairly even numbers for people wanting boys and/or girls," he said.

Researchers want to know how the sex selection will affect a baby's health, and social factors within the families as the child grows.

Baylor has just started enrollment into the clinical trial. So far, it has about 50 potential participants on a waiting list. Officials said it takes a big commitment. Participants will be followed for several years. The social effects of choosing a baby's sex will also be studied.

To be eligible for consideration to take part in the study, couples must already have one child and want another child of the opposite sex.

Many countries, including England, have banned using PGD for family balancing.

Some local religious leaders are also against PGD.

"What would bother me -- it would promote a sense of discrimination and also a sense that some lives aren't worth living," said the Rev. Michael Olson, with the University of St. Thomas.

Some private fertility clinics practice sperm separation as a way to choose a child's gender. It can have a 60 to 95 percent success rate. It costs about $3,500, which is in addition to the cost of in vitro fertilization. IVF costs between $10,000 and $15,000.