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.

英国工党日前表示，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.

因为有人担心有些准父母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，并由英国国家医疗服务体系推出，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，这其中还包括在线服务。

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".

“影子女性和平等”大臣纳兹·沙赫表示，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.

她向BBC透露：“NIPT筛查应该用于其最初目的，即筛查如唐氏综合症这样的严重疾病。”

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

根据英国国家医疗服务体系，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。而使用NIPT，胎儿性别可以在怀孕9到10周后确定。