HC discourages revealing sex of unborn babies

The High Court (HC) has discouraged revealing the sex of unborn babies and directed the government to take necessary measures aimed at discouraging the detection of sex during pregnancy.

The HC bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Kazi Zinat Hoque also ordered the health ministry to preserve the database of the test reports of unborn children.

The observation came today (25 February) after hearing a four-year-old writ petition aimed at prohibiting prenatal sex detection to safeguard the well-being of babies and expectant mothers.

The HC directed all to follow the DGHS guidelines in this regard.

Filed by Supreme Court lawyer Ishrat Hasan on 20 January 2020, the petition was framed as a public interest litigation. It sought necessary directives from the court to prohibit the sex detection of unborn babies and to cease the sale, transfer, or handling of any machine used for prenatal sex detection.

The same year on 3 February, another HC bench issued a ruling asking the authorities to explain why they should not be directed to frame a guideline preventing sex detection of unborn babies.

During the hearing of the rule, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) presented a guideline titled "National Guideline for the Prevention of Son Preference and the Risk of Gender-Biased Sex Selection, 2022" to the High Court on 29 January this year, stating that prenatal sex detection has been discouraged.

Ishrat Hasan herself moved the petition, while Deputy Attorney General Amit Das Gupta and Advocate Tirtha Salil Pal represented the state and DGHS respectively during the hearing on the matter.