Data presented at the Fertility Society of Australia's annual meeting suggests hundreds of Australian couples are taking flight to choose the gender of their baby.

The meeting over the weekend heard the results of a study showing evidence that at least 120 couples attended a single Thai IVF unit in an 18-month period, just to avoid Australia's regulatory ban on social sex selection.

Current guidelines in Australian medicine prevent parents from choosing their child’s sex unless there are complications caused by genetic conditions.

The director of an Australian IVF clinic says the technology is safe and proven, and that parents should not have to leave the country to act on decision for their child.

Genea IVF clinic Associate Professor Mark Bowman says: “The vast majority of these people just happen to be ordinary Australian couples who have had perhaps two children of one gender and desire to have a child of another gender... they've done their research online and they've recognised that this is a way that technology can achieve that.”

With parents forking over between $8000 and $20,000 just for the choice, Prof Bowman says it could be time to look at reversing the ban here.

“Many fertility specialists in Australia believe that under the right circumstances and with the right counselling, it probably is a treatment that should be offered in Australia,” he said.