The Council of Europe's 1997 Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine states that "techniques may not be used to choose a future child's sex, except where serious hereditary sex-related disease is to be avoided". Out of the European Council's 41 member states, 30 countries signed the Convention, so in these countries, scientific methods of sex selection are only legal in the case of genetically inherited disease.

Canada has also banned sex selection for non-medical purposes.