Israeli doctors are marketing a US$500 test to determine a baby’s sex only 7 weeks after conception. Until now couples had to wait 20 weeks for an ultrasound. The new test detects the male Y chromosome in the mother’s blood.

The obvious problem with making the test available is that it may encourage women to abort a baby if it is not the desired sex. Sex selective abortion is a huge problem in India, China and other Asian countries. One gynaecologist even told the Daily Mail: “Performing the test at such an early stage opens up an immoral and unethical choice to couples interested in a baby of a specific sex to abort the pregnancy and try again.”

However, for Dr Esther Guetta, of the Sheba Medical Centre, who developed the test, the main ethical problem is not allowing women access to this information. “If a woman wants and can afford the test, you could say it would be unethical to prevent her from getting it,” she said. She has called for a committee of experts to be set up to deal with the ethics of her invention. ~ Daily Mail, Nov 1