Parents can now find out if their baby is a boy or a girl only six weeks into gestation through a test available online.
DNA
Worldwide recently made the blood-test kit available for purchase
online but it has been met with some controversy. One group said the
kit would prompt
parents to abort the child if it is not the desired
gender. Another group said the test lures a parent''s focus from health to gender. DNA
Worldwide, however, said the test merely gives parents more time to
plan for their baby and less waiting time to find out the sex. The
test requires a finger prick to collect a blood sample. The sample is
sent to the company''s lab where if a Y-chromosome is found in the blood
then the parents will have a boy, if no Y-chromosome is detected then
it''s a girl. The company said the test is 99 percent effective. They offer a refund for wrong predictions. Parents
normally must wait for their 20-week ultrasound scan to find out the
sex of the baby. DNA Worldwide said excited parents no longer have to
wait. Julia Millington of the Pro-life Alliance rejected the
notion that this test will give parents more time to plan saying that
preparations are identical for male and female babies. She said, "There is a real risk that some people would choose to abort babies of a certain gender." Michaela
Aston of the pro-life charity LIFE agreed and added that women in some
countries might be coerced into an abortion if she is not pregnant with
the desired sex.