Swedish health authorities have ruled that gender-based abortion is not illegal. Earlier in the year it was reported that a woman from Eskilstuna in southern Sweden had two abortions after finding out the gender of the child.

The woman, who already had two daughters, requested an amniocentesis in order to allay concerns about possible chromosome abnormalities. She also inquired about the foetus's gender. Doctors at Mälaren Hospital expressed concern and asked Sweden’s National Board of Health and Welfare how to handle requests for gender tests without a medically compelling reason to do so.

"I wonder if a caregiver within the public health system has the right to make reference to their own views and the dominant view in our country about gender’s equal value, in preventing a patient, with perhaps a different valuation, from learning the gender of the foetus,” wrote the head of the hospital.

The board has now responded that such requests can not be refused and that it is not possible to deny a woman an abortion up to the 18th week of pregnancy, even if gender is the basis for the request. ~ The Local, May 12