A company has begun to market sex selection kits over the internet in Britain. that couples can determine the sex of their baby at just six weeks from a finger-prick of blood. It says that the test, which costs ?189, is 99% accurate and that it will give refunds after wrong predictions.

Pro-life groups warned that customers would abort children simply because they were the wrong sex. Even the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists stated that it “strongly believes that sex selection for non medical purposes is inappropriate”. However, the company strongly denies this view of its product: it simply allows parents more time to plan for their baby, it insists.

A similar kit appeared a couple of years ago in the US. Baby Gender Mentor was marketed to “the type of woman who can’t wait to open Christmas presents”. However a number of women launched a class action suit complaining that the test had failed. They also alleged that the company refused to honour its promises of a refund.

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Michael Cook

Michael Cook edits BioEdge, a bioethics newsletter, and MercatorNet, an on-line magazine whose focus is human dignity. He writes from Sydney, Australia.

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