If someone has an abortion, could the doctor tell her the gender of the fetus?

Question

This is hypothetical and I do not want to have an abortion debate. Because it probably makes a difference, let's say it's 10 to 12 weeks along. I saw a movie where the girl who had an abortion asked whether the fetus was a boy or a girl and she was told. I was wondering if this actually could happen.

Answer 1

It depends what type of abortion is performed. Usually a vacuum method is used, so the body is likely not in one piece. In the US, most states won't do abortions past 12 weeks, so the vacuum method is most common. However, if a partial birth is done, they deliver the baby feet first, keeping the head in the birth canal before evacuating the baby's brains....at this time you would likely be able to know the sex of the baby.

Check out this informative website....it will make you think.

http://www.abortionfacts.com/online_books/love_them_both/why_cant_we_love_them_both_18.asp#What%20are%20the%20first%20trimester%20surgical%20ones?

*A baby has no sex/gender at first (just gonads)...they will either stay inside the body and become ovaries or drop outside the body and become testes.
http://pregnancy.about.com/od/pregnancycalendar/p/week8.htm

Answer 2

YES, by 8 weeks the gender is visible on a fetus.
An 8 wk fetus is about 1 inch long so at 10-12weeks it is 2-3 inches long and gender is noticeable if looked at first hand not on ultrasound. Ultrasound can determine sex as early as 16wks in some cases.

so the answer is yes!

Answer 3

Most elective abortions are done way before sex can be determinend so hte answer would be now.

In other abortation scenarios where advance pregnancy is in place then they could but not on the common elective abortions.

Answer 4

Yes, I miscarried my baby at 10 wks last Sept and they could tell me the sex. It would be sad though don't you think? I didn't want to know b/c it would make it "more real" to me. To think that I would have had a boy or girl...

Answer 5

If the doc looks closely then yes because the parts have already begun to form at this point.

Answer 6

deh deh deeh, yeah... if the BABY lived long enough to change or stay the same sex then yes... when you get pregnant it is automatically a girl until a certain time has passed and the baby either will change into a boy and grow a penis or stay a female and become more defined as a female... look it up... why do people think that if they kill it isn't killing it's their choice? oh well god will judge those after life and then the idiots who killed their babies will know what harm they inflicted on an inocent person... needed to express this incase anyone thinks it is ok... go to church or get a religion it is not ok (I don't been satanism either)

Answer 7

yes, but it's very expensive at that stage. It's called Kareotyping (sp?) it's the same test that is used for downs syndrome. So, it's possible, but I don't know how many doctors would do it.

Answer 8

Iam thinking no they wouldn't tell you. When they do the ultra sound to see how far you are they dont even have the sound up and they have the screen turned so you can't see it. So I can't see them telling you the sex of your pregnancy that you're about to terminate.

Answer 9

Usually they won't, because they want to keep the women believing that it wasn't really a live baby killed.

Actually, many women are told the baby is still a clot of blood when it is fully formed.

Possibly afterwards they would, because the deed is done and the woman won't stop it. But they usually try to keep the woman from feeling guilt.

Answer 10

i dont think so i have been told most women dont find out until they are 20 weeks or so