Thursday July 29, 1999
SEX SELECTION GOING MAINSTREAM
“Sexist” considerations deemed important in abortion and IVF
INDIA (LSN, July 29) – The Indian government is becoming increasingly concerned about the number of girls being aborted in their society which favours male offspring. An Australian Broadcasting Corporation report yesterday said that ultrasound technology is playing a key role in the sex-based slaughter. Prem Aggarwal, the General-Secretary of the Indian Medical Association, says India’s demographic patterns are being threatened. “Doctor Aggarwal says the national gender ratio stands at 927 females per 1,000 males but in 31 districts the female count per 1,000 males is less than 900,” reported ABC. In four districts, however, the sex ratio has plummetted to 600 females per 1,000 males.
Meanwhile in Canada, feminist groups are preparing to battle each other over the issue of whether or not sex selection abortions should be banned. Health Minister Allan Rock is expected to introduced a long-awaited bill on reproductive technologies this fall. Many people expect it to include a ban on sex selection abortions, which has some feminist groups screaming foul because they fear it will be the wedge needed by pro-life Canadians to demand further restrictions on abortion. Carla Yu discusses the issue in the latest issue of BC Report: https://www.axionet.com/bcreport/
This week’s issue of the New York Times Magazine includes an extensive article on experimentation with sex selection techniques for In Vitro Fertilization procedures. The “Microsort” process is not yet ready for widespread use notes the article, so the American lab continues to experiment on human life at its earliest stages.
See the article at:
https://www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/19990725mag-sci…
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