Pregnancy: Screening

Mr. Amess
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will bring forward legislation to ban the use of tests which can tell an unborn baby's gender at six weeks; what recent representations she has received on such tests; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint
Prospective parents may desire to know the sex of a foetus for a variety of reasons. However, antenatal sexing of the foetus is not a routine part of antenatal care nor has the Department issued any guidance to hospitals on whether or not parents should be told the sex of their baby. The Government recognise that there is concern that the availability of information about the sex of their foetus could lead some women to seek an abortion if the foetus is of a particular sex. However, there is no evidence that this is happening in the United Kingdom. The grounds on which abortion may lawfully be carried out are set out in the Abortion Act 1967 (as amended). These do not include foetal sex alone. Although the Government are aware of companies offering foetal sex identification through genetic tests they have received no recent representations relating to this issue.

The availability of tests on samples collected privately also raises important questions of privacy. The Human Tissue Act 2004 makes it an offence to use a person's tissue for DNA analysis without their consent. The Government continue to keep the developing area of genetic tests under review but have no current plans to bring forward further legislation in this area.