Hi All
As we all know, it is poss to find out the sex of our unborn children here at the 20 wk scan. Some of us choose to, some not, which is everyones personal choice. Now there is a test (bit like a pregnancy test where you wee on the test stick) which can be used from 10 wks pregnant, or 6 weeks since last period, which claims to tell you the sex of the baby by means of testing the mix of hormone levels in your urine. Im not sure exactly how it works, ie which hormones are tested for and in which quantities, but it claims to have an accuracy rate of around 82-90% for some of them, and up to 95% for the ones that you send away to the lab to test.

Whats your thoughts on this?

Are they a good idea? Or bad?

Is it in any way different to a sexing scan?

Do you think it would force selective termination of the "wrong" sex in some countries? (granted I think in countries where this occur it is not sold, but begs the question that you can buy anything over the net?)

If not termination, would there be a surge in baby girl abandonment, as in some countries boys are favoured, and they do not have access to ultrasound for gender testing?

Would precious research and money be better spent elsewhere? OR is it harmless and no different to the sexing scan?

Is it a waste of money due to the accuracy rate?
Love to hear your views. Its quite controversial, and I am in two minds about it. On one hand i can see the problem with gender selection for those who would use it for those means (esp if they dont have access to ultrasound) but on the other hand, the majority of people would use it sensibly and just out of curiosity and excitement and I cant see the harm in that.

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I am in two minds about this too Vickie.
In a way they are no different to gender scans that people have, apart from the fact that you can tell a hell of a lot earlier. Ive never heard of these thats why im quite shocked about the reliability that they claim to have!
I cant say whether they are a good or bad idea.......... I knew that I was having a baby boy from being 20 weeks pregnant, but being able to know from 10 weeks or as little as 6 weeks from your missed period is amazing but quite scary.
I think that if these home prediction kits did become as popular and as used as say ovulation kits then there would be an epidemic of terminations of baby girls, because as you have said some cultures pride themselves on having boys rather than girls.
In a way they could of been better ways in which to invest a pile of money, but then again some people just really want to know the sex of their baby and no matter how many scans they have this isnt always possible (position the baby's lying in, legs crossed etc).
I suppose they are good, but in a way its similar to having a sex scan.
We shall see how they kick off lol, but I can see them becoming very very popular all over the world for a huge number of different reasons.

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I think on their own they aer harmles and quite a good idea if your intention is just curiosity and excitement, its just when there are more sinister reasons, thats when it becomes a problem i think x

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