VNExpress-Nov 6
Bich Thao and her husband are still trying to get a son after seven years and five in vitro fertilization attempts despite knowing sex selection is illegal. The couple, both 34 and from the northern Vinh Phuc Province, say they have been unlucky in that all five IVF attempts failed either to faulty embryos or a faulty Y (male) chromosome.
Thao married her husband in 2010 and their first child was a girl. With her husband being the oldest son, the expectation is that she, too, will produce a male heir.
When they decided to have a second child, they opted for IVF, which works by combining a woman’s egg and a man’s sperm in a laboratory to create an embryo. It also enables sex selection before the embryo is implanted in the uterus. Mai Huong and her husband, both of whom work for the government, also had a girl child and decided to shell out more than VND100 million (over $4,000) for IVF to have a son. Women with vastly different educational, economic, and social backgrounds all coerced into giving birth to a son. According to a 2020 report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Vietnam is among the three countries with the greatest sex ratio imbalance at birth, along with China and India. Son La, Hoa Binh, Bac Giang, Hung Yen, Han Nam and Ba Ria – Vung Tau provinces – have a sex ratio of more than 120 boys for every 100 girls. According to a 2014 report by the General Statistic Office, married couples who are better educated and economically well-off are more likely to desire sons. Recent changes have also contributed to this phenomenon like low birth rates and sophisticated and easily accessible reproductive technologies. If one wanted to undergo IVF until a decade ago, they had to travel to Thailand or Singapore and spend billions of dong. In recent years IVF techniques and technologies have progressed enormously in Vietnam. The cost of IVF at more than 40 institutions and hospitals in the country that offer the procedure is VND70-100 million, or only equivalent to 20-25 percent of the cost in other countries. Since 2017 Vietnam has had the highest number of IVF procedures performed annually in Southeast Asia. Read more at: https://e.vnexpress.net/news/trend/couples-rely-on-ivf-to-have-baby-boys-4529421.html
