*Gay couple buys twin baby boys*

By Peta Hellard and Liam Houlihan

October 14, 2007 12:00am
Article from: Herald Sun

    * Gay couple buy twin boys for $130,000
    * Couple chose sex of babies delivered by surrogate
    * Californian baby clinic sees increase in Australian clients

AUSTRALIA - A MELBOURNE gay couple have travelled to the US to buy
"designer twin boys" through a surrogate mother at a cost of up to $133,000.

Brian Sheldon and Matthew Shaffer are one of several gay Victorian
couples taking advantage of California's liberal IVF laws.

The couple ordered the two babies - even choosing their preferred sex,
male - through US IVF pioneer Dr Jeffrey Steinberg.

The Australian Family Association believed it was tantamount to
"trafficking in children", while the two fathers yesterday defended
their decision to start a family.

"The issue is not really a gay issue. It's a reproductive rights issue
for everybody," Mr Sheldon said.

Mr Steinberg said an increasing number of gay Australians were visiting
his Californian fertility centre to start a family - and sidestep
Victorian law, which prohibits commercial surrogacy.

"We see two or three gay couples from Australia each month and that's a
five-fold increase over the last two years," he said.

Dr Steinberg said between 75 to 80 per cent of gay and lesbian couples
came to him for treatment decided to choose the sex of their babies -
using the controversial IVF procedure and embryo screening known as
Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis.

"If they choose gender, about 65 to 70 per cent of male gay couples
choose male," he said.

Each gay couple is able to choose a baby to order - taking into account
the physical characteristics and education level of egg donors, who are
aged between 18 and 27.

The fertilised embryos are then implanted in a surrogate, usually single
mothers or married women in their late 20s or early 30s who have gone
through a strict psychological and physical screening process.

Australian Family Association president Angela Conway said the practice
was like trafficking in children.

"Many of these cases have elements of designer babies," she said.

Dr Steinberg's LA-based Fertility Institute has performed the hi-tech
"sex selection" procedure on about 100 gay and heterosexual couples from
Australia since 2005.