IntelliGender release raises abortion fears

A test that claims to determine the sex of an unborn baby only eight weeks into a pregnancy will be available in pharmacies from today.

IntelliGender, the first test of its kind in Australia, claims a 90 per cent accuracy rate in determining whether a baby will be a boy or a girl.

Doctors and the anti-abortion lobby, however, fear the test will be used as a means of sex selection and drive up abortion rates.

The company behind the $95 test, which has been sold in the US since 2006, says it takes 10 minutes and identifies a "confidential element" found in the hormones of a woman pregnant with a girl.

The element is found in very low levels in women pregnant with a boy or not pregnant at all.

Currently, women who want to find out their baby's gender can do so at a routine 18- to 20-week ultrasound to check on the health and development of the child.

Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists president Dr Ted Weaver said there appeared to be...