Sex Of Unborn Babies Can’t Be Disclosed: HC

The High Court ruled that the gender identity of the unborn child cannot be revealed. Along with this, hospitals and diagnostic centers have been instructed to strictly follow this order. The High Court today ruled that the sex of unborn babies cannot be disclosed.

Delivering the verdict on a writ petition, the court also directed the government to take necessary measures so that hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centres strictly follow the guideline that discourage the detection of sex during pregnancy.

At the same, the HC ordered the health ministry to preserve the data base of the test reports of the unborn children, writ petitioner Ishrat Hasan told The Daily Star.

Following the verdict, the lawyer said disclosure of sex of unborn babies has been banned in Bangladesh by the HC.

The HC bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Kazi Zinat Hoque delivered the verdict following a four-year-old writ petition that sought prohibition of prenatal sex detection in order to ensure protection of the babies and pregnant mothers.

Ishrat Hasan, a Supreme Court lawyer, filed the petition with the HC as a public interest litigation on January 26, 2020, seeking necessary orders on the authorities concerned to prohibit the sex detection of unborn babies and to stop selling, transferring or handling any machine used for prenatal sex detection.

Following the petition, another HC bench on February 3, 2020 issued a rule asking the authorities to explain why they should not be directed to frame a guideline to prevent sex detection of unborn babies.

During hearing of the rule, Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) submitted a guideline on January 29 this year to the HC, saying that the detection during pregnancy has been discouraged.

The guideline is titled "National Guideline for the Prevention of Son Preference and the Risk of Gender-Biased Sex Selection, 2022".

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