Mother chooses sex of next child

Nicola Chenery desperately wants a daughter

A mother of four sons is preparing to go abroad for treatment to allow her to have a daughter.

Nicola Chenery from Plymouth, Devon, and her partner, travelled to London on Monday to start the first part of the £6,000 treatment.

Later this week they will travel to an undisclosed European clinic to continue the treatment known as pre-implant genetic diagnosis (PGD).

PGD is illegal in the UK except on medical grounds, such as when a child is likely to develop haemophilia or cystic fibrosis.

I just want to balance my family

Nicola Chenery

But the treatment is legal in some countries for gender selection.

Ms Chenery, 33 said the treatment would make her family "complete".

"I'm extremely lucky to have my four boys, I just want to balance my family," she said.

Rules governing PGD are administered by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.

The authority opposes sex selection for family balancing because it implies one sex is more valuable than the other.