sex selection Archives - Protection of Conscience Project Library

(Correspondence) Female feticide

Susan J Woolhouse

Canadian Medical Association Journal, CMAJ — Canadian Medical Association Journal

Extract
Rajendra Kale. . .advocates for physician regulatory agencies to undertake a recommendation to ban the disclosure of the sex of a fetus before 30 weeks gestation. This advocacy is misguided at best and dangerous at worst. . . . Blaming women for the scourge of gender-based violence is also not a solution. This is why limiting access to abortion based on this specific reason is dangerous health policy. Does this mean that some women will decide to abort female fetuses preferentially? Sadly, yes.

Woolhouse SJ. (Correspondence) Female feticide. Can Med Assoc J. 2012 Jun 12;184(9):1064.

(Correspondence) Female feticide (Dr. Kale responds)

Rajendra Kale

Extract
I referred to a 2010 study in which Asians were defined, for the purposes of that study, as “people from India, China, Korea, Vietnam and Philippines.”3 I did not intend to suggest that . . . evidence of sex selection, disparity of infant sex. . . applied to all those groups; indeed, the results were varied. I apologize for the ambiguity.

Kale R. (Correspondence) Female feticide (Dr. Kale responds). Can Med Assoc J. 2012 Jun 12;184(9):1065.

(Correspondence) Female feticide

Nathalie Auger, Harbhajan S Kang

Extract
Forces worldwide are leading to greater intermingling of cultures with different perspectives on status of women, and it is unlikely that sex-selective abortions can be reduced without conscious efforts to raise awareness of gender equality at all levels of society.

Auger N, Kang HS. (Correspondence) Female feticide. Can Med Assoc J. 2012;184(9):1064.

“It’s a girl!” could be a death sentence.

Rajenda Kale

Extract
When Asians migrated to Western countries they brought welcome recipes for curries and dim sum. Sadly, a few of them also imported their preference for having sons and aborting daughters. Female feticide happens in India and China by the millions, but it also happens in North America in numbers large enough to distort the male to female ratio in some ethnic groups.1^–4 Should female feticide in Canada be ignored because it is a small problem localized to minority ethnic groups?

Kale R. “It’s a girl!” could be a death sentence. CMAJ January 16, 2012, doi: 10.1503/cmaj.120021

(News) Sex selection migrates to Canada

Lauren Vogel

Extract
Easy access to abortion and advances in prenatal sex determination have combined to make Canada a haven for parents who would terminate female fetuses in favour of having sons, despite overwhelming censure of the practice, economists and bioethics experts say.

Arguing that Canadian lawmakers’ silence on the issue is undermining the status of women, they’re calling for federal legislation to uphold societal and professional values opposing sex-selective abortion, either through a direct ban or restrictions on the disclosure of fetal gender. They also contend that sex-selective abortion is forcing physicians to compromise between their ethical obligations to discourage sex selection and legal obligations to respect their patients’ autonomy. . .

Vogel L. Sex Selection Migrates to Canada CMAJ January 16, 2012 cmaj.109-4091

Prenatal diagnosis and female abortion: a case study in medical law and ethics

Bernard M Dickens

Abstract
Alarm over the prospect that prenatal diagnostic techniques, which permit identification of fetal sex and facilitate abortion of healthy but unwanted female fetuses has led some to urge their outright prohibition. This article argues against that response. Prenatal diagnosis permits timely action to preserve and enhance the life and health of fetuses otherwise endangered, and, by offering assurance of fetal normality, may often encourage continuation of pregnancies otherwise vulnerable to termination. Further, conditions in some societies may sometimes render excusable the inclination to abort certain healthy female fetuses. In places where abortion for fetal sex alone is recognised as unethical, however, medical licensing authorities already possess the power to discipline, for professional misconduct, physicians who prescribe or perform prenatal diagnosis purely to identify fetal sex, or those who disclose fetal sex when that is unrelated to the fetus’s medical condition.

Dickens BM. Prenatal diagnosis and female abortion: a case study in medical law and ethics. J Med Ethics 1986 Sep; 12(3): 143-144.