Boy Or Girl?

IN an attempt to stop parents from 'choosing' the sex of thier child by aborting an unwanted foetus (more comman with female foetuses) a draft resolution by a Council of Europe committee has been passed.

In the UK, most maternity units are happy to tell expectant parents the gender of their unborn child on request.

The recommendation covers all 47 member states which means all NHS midwives and doctors could be barred from telling parents whether they will have a boy or a girl.

The proposal has not gone down well with parenting groups who were angry about the proposed change. Founder of parenting magazine Mumsnet, Justine Roberts said expectant parents ask to know the sex of their child for practical reasons such as working out whether siblings could share a room or simply because they want to plan ahead.

 She said: "I can understand that there may be problems in some parts of the world with sex selection, but it seems ridiculous to apply the thinking to countries where this has not been shown to be a problem. I think pregnant women would feel pretty disappointed to be told they can't be told the gender of their unborn child."

The Council of Europe, based in Strasbourg, cannot impose binding orders on governments but is highly influential in policy-making and has often seen its decisions enacted through conventions and treaties.

The draft resolution by the council's equal opportunities committee will now go before the council's full Parliamentary Assembly for approval next month.

In the UK, most maternity units are happy to tell expectant parents the gender of their unborn child on request. Some parents are told during the twelve week scan (if the sex is clear) but otherwise at the twenty week stage, when the scan is more detailed.

There are a few NHS trusts that have policies which deny parents the option however. This is because of concerns about prenatal sex selection or on cost grounds.

Midwives in several hospitals in the south and parts of London have told mothers-to-be that they are not allowed to know the sex of the foetus.

Some said their policies were drawn up because of concerns that boys, especially firstborn sons, were more favoured than girls in some Muslim communities with others saying they had been told not to disclose the information in case they got it wrong and were sued.

The draft resolution states that prenatal sex selection has reached 'worrying proportions' in several member states, in particular Armenia, Azerbaijan and Albania, where the ratio is 112 boys for 100 girls, and in Georgia, where the ratio is 111 boys for 100 girls. It adds that sex selection should only be allowed in order to avoid serious hereditary disease linked to one sex.

Dr Gillian Lockwood, medical director of Midland Fertility Services and former vice-chairman of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists' ethics committee said that while she had seen a few couples who were prone to "Victoria Beckham syndrome" – being desperate for a girl, after several boys, or vice versa – most only wanted to know their unborn baby's gender so they could paint the nursery, buy suitable clothes, or tell other children whether they would have a brother or sister.

She added that it would be hard to see how the European recommendations would prevent selective abortions in this country, given that so many received the news about the baby's gender at 20 weeks, when it would be impossible to secure a termination without medical grounds.

The committee is composed of 77 MPs and politicians from member states, with British members including Labour MPs Ann Coffey (Stockport) and Yasmin Querishi (Bolton South East) Conservative MP Amber Rudd (Hastings and Rye) and Lib Dem peer Baroness Emma Nicholson.

The recommendation will be discussed by the full assembly of 318 MPs from 3 to 7 October.