The culture's obsession with control and certainty ploughs foward:
Is it a girl or a boy? It's the first question every new mother asks. And the answer can now be given almost from the moment a woman finds out that she is pregnant.
A revolutionary new test launched in the United States this month can tell the sex of an embryo just five weeks after conception. The company behind the test, known as the Baby Gender Mentor, says that it will help couples to decide whether to paint the spare bedroom pink or blue.
But anti-abortion groups fear that the test, in which a single drop of the mother's blood is tested for traces of her baby's DNA, could lead to an increase in abortions by making it easier for parents to end a pregnancy if they want a child of a different sex.
The $275 (£158) test promises 99.9 per cent accuracy in less than 48 hours. If a Y chromosome is found in the mother's blood, the child she is carrying is a boy.
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