Desire for prenatal gender disclosure among primigravidae in Enugu, Nigeria

BACKGROUND: Prenatal gender disclosure is a nonmedical fetal ultrasonography view, which is considered ethically unjustified but has continued to grow in demand due to pregnant women’s requests. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the proportion of primigravidae who want prenatal gender disclosure and the reasons for it. METHODS: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study of randomly selected primigravidae seen at Enugu Scan Centre. The women were randomly selected using a table of random numbers. RESULTS: Ninety percent (225/250) of 250 primigravidae who fulfilled the criteria for inclusion in this study wanted to know the gender of their unborn baby, while 10% (25/250) declined gender disclosure. Furthermore, 62% (155/250) of primigravidae had preference for male children. There was statistically significant desire for male gender (P=0.0001). Statistically significant number of primigravidae who wanted gender disclosure did so to plan for the new baby (P=0.0001), and those that declined gender disclosure “leave it to the will of GOD” (P=0.014). CONCLUSION: Ninety percent of primigravidae wanted gender disclosure because of plans for the new baby, personal curiosity, partner and in-laws’ curiosity; moreover, some women wanted to test the accuracy of the findings at delivery and 62% of primigravidae had preference for male children. In view of these results, gender disclosure could be beneficial in this environment.