PARENTS-to-be in Scotland face a newborn postcode lottery if they want to know the sex of their yet-to-be-born-baby.
Of the 14 health boards in Scotland, four say they won’t tell pregnant mums if they’re expecting a boy or girl, no matter how many times the parents might ask.
The boards who don’t tell said it was in part because it wasn’t always reasonably clear what sex a baby was.
Being able to spot the telltale signs can depend on which way the baby is lying, or facing, or whether or not the legs are up.
Parents living in those areas would have to pay for a private scan if they wanted to find out whether they were having a boy or a girl.
Justine Craig, chief midwife at NHS Tayside, told The National that in her health board mothers-to-be were “offered the opportunity to find out the gender of their baby at their 18-21 week scan if they wish.”
She added: “Parents will be advised that there is a chance that the gender information they are given could be incorrect due to the way the baby is positioned and sometimes it is not possible to see the gender of the baby.”
NHS Borders said: “If parents wish to know the fetal sex at the 20 week anomaly scan we can inform them providing it is visible, although it is not guaranteed to be 100% correct.”
The table below will tell you if your local health board will tell you the sex of your baby:
Over the weekend, Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson revealed that she wanted to know the sex of her child, but her partner, Jen Wilson, did not.
She told the Sunday Times: “I am the least romantic person in the world and I wanted to know what colour of paint to buy. But Jen is a firm believer that there are not enough genuine surprises in this world, and she’s right. So we don’t know.”
Laura, a Glasgow-based lecturer, whose daughter was due last week, told The National she and her partner decided to ask at 20 weeks, partly because of impatience.
“It is so hard to conceptualise the baby as a person at that point that finding out the sex made the pregnancy feel more real. We avoided any kind of ‘reveal,’ and it wouldn’t have mattered what the sex was, but for us it helped us feel like we were getting to know our baby.”
Brian, whose partner Katy is due on Hogmanay, said they didn’t want to know, as both thought it would be “nice to keep it a surprise”.
Meanwhile, Labour’s shadow women and equalities minister at Westminster, Naz Shah, has called on the government to stop parents from being able to pay for an early Non-Invasive Prenatal Test (NIPT) to discover the sex of their child.
The NHS only allows pregnant women the early blood test to screen for genetic conditions, but private clinics offer parents the chance to find out their baby’s gender for around £150 to £200.
Shah said she believed a a cultural preference for boys among some ethnic minority communities in the UK meant the use of NIPT was encouraging sex-selective abortions.
“NIPT screenings should be used for their intended purpose, to screen for serious conditions such as Down’s syndrome,” she said. “The government needs to look into this exploitative practice and enforce appropriate restrictions,” the MP said.
The Department of Health said it would continue to review the evidence.
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