导读:在英国，因为有人担心有些人会因为胎儿的性别而选择终止妊娠。英国工党表示，应该禁止胎儿性别测试。



Prospective parents should be banned from using a blood test to determine the sex of their baby in the early stages of pregnancy, Labour has said.

工党表示，应该禁止准父母在怀孕初期使用验血的方式来确定其婴儿的性别。

Concerns have been raised that some people could choose to terminate the pregnancy because of a foetus’s sex.

因为有人担心有些人会因为胎儿的性别而选择终止妊娠。

The non-invasive prenatal test (NIPT) is used to detect Down’s syndrome and other genetic conditions and is being rolled out by the NHS as an additional part of its antenatal screening offer.

非侵入性产前检测（NIPT）用于检测唐氏综合征和其他遗传病症，并由NHS推出，作为其产前筛查的增项部分。

Those who take the test on the health service cannot use it to learn their baby’s sex, but they can pay for this privately, including via online services.

那些参加健康服务测试的人不能用它来测试胎儿的性别，但他们可以通过私下支付来获得此服务，这包括在线服务。

Naz Shah, the shadow women and equalities minister, said a preference for boys in some cultures could force expecting parents “to adopt methods such as NIPT to live up to expectations of family members”.

"影子妇女和平等"组织的部长Naz Shah表示，在某些文化中，偏爱男孩的传统可能会造成父母“采用NIPT等方法来迎合家庭成员的期望”。

“NIPT screenings should be used for their intended purpose, to screen for serious conditions such as Down’s syndrome,” she told the BBC.

“NIPT筛查应该符合预期目的，即筛查严重疾病，如唐氏综合症，”她告诉BBC。

“The government needs to look into this exploitative practice and enforce appropriate restrictions.”

“政府需要研究这种剥削行为并实施适当的限制。”

On the NHS, prospective parents are offered a combined blood and ultrasound test in the first three months of pregnancy to check for abnormalities. Most can find out the sex of the foetus at an 18 to 20-week scan.

在NHS，准父母在怀孕的前三个月接受血液和超声检查，以发现任何异常。大多数人可以在18到20周的扫描中知道胎儿的性别。

Using NIPT, this can be determined from nine to 10 weeks of pregnancy.

使用NIPT，胎儿性别可以在怀孕9到10周后确定。

A report last year by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics found several websites offering baby gender tests for about ?170.

纳菲尔德生物伦理委员会去年发布的一份报告表明，有几个网站提供价值约170英镑的婴儿性别测试服务。

It said that unless the test is used to diagnose a sex-related medical condition, there is no clinical need for it at an early stage.

报告称，除来使用该测试来诊断与性有关的疾病，在早期阶段，该测试没有临床需要。

The report warned that while there was limited evidence of sex-selective terminations taking place in the UK, there was a “real possibility that permitting NIPT for sex determination in the UK may be encouraging sex selection”.

该报告警告说，虽然英国发生因性别原因而选择终止妊娠的证据有限，但“允许NIPT在英国进行性别鉴定可能会鼓励性别选择”。

It is illegal to abort a pregnancy because of a foetus’s sex alone, although there are some exemptions and the council said laws were not clear cut.

因为胎儿的性别而中止怀孕是违法的，尽管有一些例外，但理事会表示法律并不明确。

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said it would continue to review the evidence.

卫生和社会保健部发言人表示将继续审查证据。

“The prenatal test is never meant to be used for gender,” a spokesman told the BBC.

“产前检查从来都不是为性别鉴定而设立的，”一位发言人告诉BBC。