Senior nurses yesterday called for an end to the "worrying" practice of secret pregnancy testing on girls as young as nine.

Paediatric nurses said children arriving at accident and emergency wards with stomach pains are being tested for pregnancy without their knowledge or that of their parents.

A snapshot survey carried out at the Royal College of Nursing accident and emergency nursing association conference in Cheshire showed that one in five emergency nurses are involved in the practice, a report in the Nursing Standard magazine said.

Sue Burr, the Royal College of Nursing's adviser in paediatric nursing, said it was an "infringement of human rights" to carry out the covert tests.

She said doctors can order nurses to carry out tests to rule out any early pregnancy, particularly if the patient is going to be sent for an x-ray which could harm a developing baby. The tests would also be useful as a diagnostic tool as one cause of abdominal pain can be an ectopic pregnancy - where the foetus grows outside the womb which requires emergency treatment.

"Concerned" members of the college had contacted the RCN to tell it the covert tests were being conducted, she said.

"There should not be covert testing of any condition. They must tell the child or their parents and use common sense so it is not a waste of resources. You wouldn't carry out a test on a 60-year-old woman like me so why a little girl?" she said.

Ms Burr, who has been nursing for more than 40 years, said the A&E association was trying to elicit how common the practice was but that it was against official guidelines.

A&E association vice chairman Robert Sowney backed the call for consent.

He told the Nursing Standard: "I would rather know about it and I don't think I'm different from any other parent."

Other nurses have argued that making pregnancy testing overt and routine could discourage parents bringing children to hospital, in cases of child abuse, because they knew testing was being done.

· Press Association