Parents-to-be should not be allowed to use blood tests to find out the sex of their baby at the beginning of a pregnancy, Labour politicians say.

Experts fear more people will have abortions if they find out they are having a girl.

In the UK it is legal to have an abortion until the 24th week of pregnancy, but evidence suggests people find it 'easier' to make the choice in the earlier stages.

In some cultures, particularly from South Asia, families prefer having boys to girls and there are concerns parents will use testing to control the sex of their children.

Currently the non-invasive prenatal test (NIPT) is used to screen for genetic disorders such as Down's syndrome.

But the DNA test can reveal the baby's gender after around nine weeks and, although the NHS does not share this information, parents can pay to have the test privately for around £170.

Labour's shadow minister for women and equalities, Naz Shah, said the government should enforce restrictions on the practice.

NIPT means parents can find out the gender of their baby as early as nine weeks into a pregnancy, which experts fear could lead to mothers having abortions based on their baby's sex in some communities

A 2017 report by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics discovered websites offer baby gender tests for around £170.

The controversial tests can work out the gender of a baby from about nine weeks into the pregnancy, whereas the NHS does not reveal it until a scan at 18-20 weeks.

The Nuffield Council's report said that there is not much evidence to prove women are having abortions based on their baby's gender.

But it can be hard to tell because they give doctors other reasons, the BBC reported.

It added there is 'a real possibility that permitting NIPT for sex determination in the UK may be encouraging sex selection'.

The early test may make it easier for women to go through with an abortion, one expert suggests, because the foetus could be up to five months old before the NHS reveals its gender.

Professor Tom Shakespeare from the University of East Anglia, said last March: 'We strongly believe there should be a ban on [NIPT's] use to find out the sex of the foetus, as this could lead to sex-selective abortions.

‘Very few people will decide to have an abortion at that stage of the pregnancy.

‘But at 10 weeks an abortion is much easier.’

The test involves taking a sample of the mother's blood to find the foetus's DNA and examine it for genetic abnormality.

'NIPT screenings should be used for their intended purpose, to screen for serious conditions such as Down's syndrome,' Ms Shah told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme.

'The Government needs to look into this exploitative practice and enforce appropriate restrictions.'

The Nuffield Council said there is no reason for revealing a baby's gender early on in the pregnancy unless it is being used to diagnose a health condition.

A preference for boys has been popular for years in China and India – in China there are 34 million more men than women because parents abort baby girls.

This is partly because men are traditionally the breadwinners of the family so women are considered to be more of a liability.

WHAT IS NIPT AND WHY IS IT CONTROVERSIAL? NIPT stands for non-invasive prenatal testing. The test can be done as early as nine weeks and involves taking a blood sample from a pregnant woman. Doctors can extract fragments of DNA from the foetus which are circulating in the mother's body. The DNA can then be tested to screen for genetic problems which could seriously affect the pregnancy or the health of the mother or baby. It is most commonly used to screen for Down's syndrome, which it can accurately predict (though not 100 per cent certain), so parents can decide whether to proceed with the pregnancy, and to be prepared if they do. NIPT is controversial because it also reveals other information about babies, such as their gender and potentially aspects of their appearance. This, experts worry, could raise the likelihood of parents aborting babies because of undesirable characteristics. Earlier this year, experts raised concerns the testing could lead to a 'genocide' of female babies in countries like China and India, where boys are traditionally preferred. Official reports found India already has 63 million fewer women than it should because families choose to abort female babies, while in China men outnumber women by 34 million for the same reason. Hugh Whittall, director of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics told MailOnline in April: 'Revealing the sex of the foetus at such an early stage of pregnancy increases the risk of terminations on the basis of sex taking place. 'Given that there are few benefits to most pregnant women of finding out the sex of the fetus in the first few weeks of pregnancy, we believe that test providers should not be allowed to give out this kind of information.' Advertisement

Labour MP for Slough, Tan Dhesi, added: 'Communities in South Asia have made huge strides in tackling this social evil.

'That's been primarily through legislation, banning gender determination clinics.

'In the UK I think we need to be doing likewise, with regards to the private sector as well.'

Rani Bilkhu works for Jeena International, an organisation working to protect women and children from religious and traditional discrimination.

She says many women face violence or are pressured into abortions because they aren't giving birth to sons.

'No wonder they're resorting to sex-selection abortion because they've got no choice,' she told the BBC.

'They don't want to be homeless, they don't want their marriage to fail – all because they couldn't give birth to a boy.

'Not only do the government not understand there's an issue around sex-selection abortion, but also charities and statutory sectors aren't asking the questions.'

NIPT testing has caused controversy in the past as experts fear it lead to 'designer babies'.

The tests can reveal a baby's gender, its hair or eye colour, and whether it will have any genetic defects such as Down's syndrome.

And campaigners fear more people could be inclined to abort babies which would in the past have been born and lived healthy lives.

Hugh Whittall, director of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, previously told MailOnline: 'Many pregnant women and couples find out the sex of their foetus simply so they can prepare for a baby of one sex or the other, or because they are curious.

'However, revealing the sex of the foetus at such an early stage of pregnancy increases the risk of terminations on the basis of sex taking place.

'There is limited evidence about the extent to which sex selective terminations are taking place in the UK, but there is a real possibility that permitting very early tests for sex may encourage sex selection, both among UK residents and through "sex selection tourism".

'Given that there are few benefits to most pregnant women of finding out the sex of the fetus in the first few weeks of pregnancy, we believe that test providers should not be allowed to give out this kind of information.'

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: 'The pre-natal test is never meant to be used for gender. We will continue to review the evidence.'