by Milan Singhal

Created on: April 05, 2007   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

When I became pregnant, I want to know the sex of my baby in advance, as it helps in pre-planning lots of things, like finalizing baby's name, the look of his or her room, and the color of clothes you need to buy.

But in my country it's not legal to undergo any test which would tell the sex of the child. Till date in many socities, due to some orthodox customs, it's considered inauspicious to have a girl child, so the mother has to undergo a test to determine the sex of child. And God forbids! If its girl, the pregnancy is terminated, in some cases, by the doctor them- self or by some midwives.

So many countries (especially South-Asian) have passed law, where it is illegal for medical personnel to use pre-natal diagnostic technologies (like ultrasound and amniocentesis) to determine the sex of an unborn child, unless there are compelling medical reasons to do the same.

So throughout my pregnancy the only think I wished and prayed was that I give birth to a healthy child irrespective of the sex, because to tell you the truth that's the only thing that really matters. Today my daughter is having a healthy childhood and I thank God for that.

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