What do you think of this? - At home prenatal gender tests

CantWait wrote: At home Prenatal Gender Tests

I'd like to think that our society is a little more civilized than to use this as a means of deciding whether to abort or not.

I think it's a fun idea, although at $40 I'm not sure I'd be first in line to waste my money on something that isn't even 100% accurate. Think I'd rather get something cute for the baby.

A&A'smommy replied: well honestly I'm not so sure I would use it as a reliable way to tell whether or not i'm having a girl or boy but it would be fun to do

PrairieMom replied: It would be fun, but not for $40. Maybe $20... I'd rather have a US.

msoulz replied: I imagine these would sell well in China...

coasterqueen replied: You know I'd like to say if I was pg I wouldn't waste the $40, especially on something that isn't clearly accurate, but I'd probably do it. Terrible, I know. Not that I'd put 100% into it at least knowing it's not completely accurate, but hey what the heck for fun huh?

I do worry that it could lead to a LOT of negatives, though, for those who would use it to abort a child, etc.

Our Lil' Family replied: I saw that in Walgreens the other day and just laughed my head off!

Cece00 replied: I think they are reaching pretty far with that "people will use it to abort"- its not 100%, and I just dont see people being stupid enough to believe one of those things. I'm sure there would be a couple of ppl that stupid, but its not going to cause a mad dash to abortion clinics around the country.

And, I also think its a pretty dumb product.

Crystalina replied: Dumb,dumb,dumb.

If you are going to your scheduled ob opointments you will find out soon enough and it's WAY more accurate.

Was is this? for the home birthing people?

coasterqueen replied:
It may not be accurate now for people to be "dumb" enough to do something like abort, but don't discount that at some point in time these tests may become more accurate and "dumb" people may do exactly that...abort a child..because of the sex. So while this one is not that accurate, I'd be dumb enough to think that one day they won't.

msoulz replied:
Yep. It's not about dumb to some, it's cultural, how the baby and/or mom will be treated, will the family name be passed on, etc.

It's still unconscionable to some of us.

holley79 replied: I wouldn't use it. YOu normally find out around 18-24 weeks anyway. I would rather take that $40 and go get a prenatal massage.

Cece00 replied:
yeah, i still dont see it happening like that...

coasterqueen replied:
Fair enough.

skinkybaby replied: I read about this on CNN http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/06/09/gende...iref=newssearch

The company is aware of the danger of this happening in other countries, and they've addressed that. I don't really think it's a major area of concern here. I'm certain there are people that are that shallow, but I think they're few and far between.

cameragirl21 replied: I'm not sure why people think this is "dumb" as from what I gathered from reading the article, this isn't voodoo or anything of that sort, it's simple chemistry whereby you mix certain chemicals with the mother's urine and there is a reaction based on the male or female hormones in her urine. The reason it's only 80% effective holds a whole slew of possibilities, among them being that scientists believe that people are born gay and that for instance in the case of boys being gay, the mother's hormones cross the placental barrier so that it's possible then that a boy fetus will exhibit female hormones. Another explanation is that the chemicals haven't been stored in ideal conditions, sitting out on a store shelf or whatever, and lose their viability, thereby lowering the accuracy of the results. Another being that the mother didn't get a good urine sample...when you are asked to give urine for a pg test as I have been asked to do countless times, they tell you to get the urine mid stream so obviously there is such a thing as a bad urine sample.
Furthermore, at home pg tests are quite regularly inaccurate yet most people don't find them to be dumb.
There is one way to beat the 80% odds if you want to fork over the $$--take the test multiple times and see if you get the same results. If so, the accuracy increases but never quite to 100%, only amnio can give you 100% unless the u/s shows very clear parts of a boy or girly bits, which they don't always do.
I think it's highly overpriced but it seems you can get results earlier than an u/s but again, the reason you don't get good results from an u/s till 16+ weeks is accuracy, which is precisely the problem with this little test, it's to be used in a gestation period of limited accuracy.
Would I do it? Maybe, just out of sheer morbid curiosity but I would also know that it's not meant to be 100% scientific, although 80% accuracy is fairly good odds that it's right.
As for it leading to abortion, that imo is up to each individual and how badly she wants a certain gender. A woman who would abort based on gender alone is probably not ideal mother material to begin with and her aborting or not aborting would not top the list of my concerns about someone like that becoming a mom and/or using such a test to make these sorts of decisions.

boyohboyohboy replied: I dont know that it wouldnt be used to determine the sex to decide if you wanted to keep the baby or not..
I have a neighbor right now that is preg. and she has been trying for a while to talk her husband into having kids, then it took a while for her to get preg.now she is, and she has been crying since she was 22 weeks because she found out she is having a boy when she always dreamed of having a girl.
she crys and wont shop now for the baby items they need..

I just want to wack her upside her head.....

so I dont know that it wouldnt be used by some....

JessC replied: You know, I was wondering when they were gonna come out with something like this, totally not worth my money tho! I would rather wait for the ultrasound... its more exciting that way!