Parents Not Told the Sex of Unborn

Sex selective abortion has emerged as a problem in Britain and apparently throughout Europe.

The Council of Europe is due to consider a draft resolution in October which recommends that all its 47 member states - including Britain - instruct hospitals to "withold information about the sex of the foetus" from parents.

The move is a bid to prevent the practice of selective abortion, which they say has reached worrying proportions in some former Soviet states.

Some maternity units in Britain have already launched the new policy.