When little Emmerson was welcomed into the world seven months ago, Jayne and Jon Cornwill finally felt like their family was complete. It has particularly been Mrs Cornwill's life-long dream to raise a baby girl.

So much so, the mother of three boys went to great lengths to ensure her fourth child would fill the missing void she's felt all these years. As non-medical gender selection remains illegal in Australia, Jayne and her husband flew to the US to undergo a procedure which would allow them to determine the gender of their embryos. The overall trip cost the couple from Mount Barker, east of Adelaide in South Australia, almost $50,000, and they believe it was worth every single cent.

'My husband and myself had always spoken about our family and what we had planned for our future,' Mrs Cornwill told Daily Mail Australia.

'In that plan was both sons and a daughters. We wanted our children to grow up in a mixed gender family, as we both come from large mixed gender families and wanted the same for our children.

'My husband wanted a daddy's girl who one day he could walk down the aisle and I wanted the bond between a mother and daughter. Our sons wanted a sister as all their friends have sisters and they adore little girls.’

The couple made the decision to see a highly acclaimed fertility doctor in California, Dr Daniel Potter, in March last year to undergo preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) - a scientific technique which can test embryos for specific genetic disorder and to determine the gender. 

Dr Potter, who sees about 20 Australians patients out of a total of 50 each month, believes there is no harm in giving families an option.

'I feel fulfilled to be able to help people complete and balance their families,' he said.

'Technology has advanced that we can allow people to plan their families, so they should have the option to do it. It's no different to the pill.

'The individual knows what's best for the individual so I think they should have the right to make the decision for themselves. By making it legal, it's not going to cause problems in society but it'll give families an option.'