HC bans revealing gender of unborn baby

The High Court (HC) has banned the disclosure of the gender identity of the unborn child. An HC bench consisting of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Kazi Zinat Hoque passed the order after hearing a writ petition on Sunday (February 25).

The court directed the government to ensure that hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centers in the country discourage gender identification during pregnancy and strictly follow the guidelines.
Apart from this, the court also directed the health ministry to maintain a database of unborn baby test reports.

Lawyer Ishrat Hasan who filed the writ told the media, “The High Court delivered the verdict after hearing a four-year-old writ petition seeking a directive to ban prenatal gender identification for the protection of children and expectant mothers.”

Mentionable, lawyer Ishrat Hasan filed the writ with the HC on January 26, 2020, seeking directions to stop the gender identification test of the unborn child. The HC issued a rule after the preliminary hearing of that writ petition. In view of this, the Directorate General of Health Services prepared a policy guideline, titled “National Guidelines Regarding Parental Gender Selection in Bangladesh” to prevent gender identification of the unborn child.