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sex selective abortion - clinics to be investigated

21 replies

cazboldy · 23/02/2012 09:33

www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/23/sex-selection-abortions-investigated?newsfeed=true

Am truly amazed, and very saddened that anyone could do this Sad

surely they must be quite far into pregnancy to know the sex?

Surely the only thing that could make this the tiniest bit acceptable would be if you had a genetic/hereditary condition in your family that was linked to either sex and you wanted to avoid passing it on. But presumable even then you would be offered some kind of screening??

Horrific! Sad

OP posts:
SardineQueen · 23/02/2012 09:39

I just saw this on the BBC here

It's appalling and they need to investigate very carefully

What really got my blood pressure up was this though

"The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (Spuc) said sex-selective abortion was an "inevitable consequence" of easy access to abortion."

NO sex selective abortion is an inevitable consequence of thinking that females are inferior or worthless FFS. Which is a POV that spuc and the like are only too familiar with Angry

bumbleymummy · 23/02/2012 11:41

I saw this too. Very sad Sad and scary that doctors are prepared to lie to do it.

fatagainkathsigh · 23/02/2012 12:43

It depends if the fetus is 20 weeks or if the woman has had a blood test at 6 weeks. Terminating a say 8 week old fetus because you wanted a girl is no different than terminating an 8 week old fetus because you don't want a baby. It's a woman's right to choose surely?

Highlander · 23/02/2012 14:26

It is very sad.

Interesting that the Telegraph decided to name and publish a photo of the female Indian doctor implicated, but not the doctor with the Western name Hmm

How many of these woemn are being co-erced into terminating?

lullabybaby · 23/02/2012 22:01

Horrible.
As women we should all be concerned that some cultures despise females to the extent that they are selectively culled.

Teajunky · 23/02/2012 22:40

I thought the article clearly states that this isn't an "ethnic" problem. Hmm

WidowWadman · 23/02/2012 23:16

Very good blogpost on The FWord about this.

I'm so very torn about this, that I don't know what I think.

I find selective abortion horrible, but at the same time believe in a woman's right to choose whether she wants to carry to term or not.

And I'd rather have a woman has an abortion in an as safe as possible manner than risking her life with a back street butcher

The only solution I could think of is removing the knowledge of what sex a child has, so that that dilemma wouldn't occurr in the first place.

HoneyandHaycorns · 24/02/2012 09:16

widow that's officially what is supposed to happen in India, where gender selection has been a big problem. Doctors are not supposed to disclose the gender of the child before birth, though in practice, I believe many still do.

It's horrible - I don't believe that a baby should be aborted on the grounds of its gender, but I also feel sorry for the unwanted children who are only born because their parents weren't allowed to abort them. :(

Highlander · 24/02/2012 13:49

Atbthe end of the day, an early termination is preferrable to a dumped baby.

Pixel · 24/02/2012 16:54

Perhaps we should ban the practice of paying dowries in this country, then daughters wouldn't be seen as such as financial burden in certain outdated cultures. It would level the playing field a bit and be one less reason for women to be pressured into aborting girls.

HoneyandHaycorns · 24/02/2012 17:15

pixel, dowries are already illegal in India, but the practice continues. As does female infanticide & gender selection. :(

Pixel · 24/02/2012 18:00

Are they? I didn't realise, the article I read earlier stated that as a reason why girls were seen as undesirable so I thought it was still the accepted thing.

PinkyCheesy · 25/02/2012 19:05

If pre-conception sex selection was legal here then maybe we wouldn't have these issues. While certain cultures may favour a male baby, I would guess (from several articles I have read) that quite a lot of Caucasian Brits would prefer a female baby, or certainly one of each if having a second child. I really can't see us turning into a one-sided society.

Yes, abortion for these reasons is horrible but if it saves the mother from having PND or the baby being abandoned, then it is the better option. IMO

WidowWadman · 25/02/2012 19:22

pinky - I think you might be onto something. At least most of the gender disappointment threads I've seen were about the desperate longing for a girl.

Gender-selection is still something I abhorr though and I think the NHS shouldn't have part in - so I'd favour at least that the sex was not revealed at routine ultrasounds.

But if a woman wishes an abortion for whatever reason, I'd rather have her have it in safe conditions.

In the case which has been in the news, the audio thing I've heard sounded to me like the woman wanted to invite discussion, so I think instead of "no questions asked" I think the doctor should have talked to her about her reasons first before making the appointment.

shoormal · 25/02/2012 21:22

Termination of preganacy on the grounds of sex is illegal. It does not fit the criteria for grounds of a termination.

However, the Daily Telegraph set out on a campaign to find out if clinics in the UK would agree to a termination on such grounds. Terminations are requested and granted for a myriad of different reasons. The request for termination on the grounds of sex should have been picked up on but wasn't.

If you read the article properly you will see that the majority of clinics in the UK refused treatements on the grounds of sex because this is illegal. This report is very very much in the minority. Terminations of pregnancy on the grounds of sex does not happen in this country.

ripsishere · 26/02/2012 09:16

SPUC are a hideous organisation IMO.

Frizzbonce · 26/02/2012 18:57

@ripsishere - "SPUC are a hideous organisation IMO"

Totally agree. It's all about control. I was brought up a Catholic and remember clearly having to go to Mass on SPUC weeks where they would put up massive full colour picture of aborted foetuses round the church (really appropriate when the church is full of kids) and then a Dick Emery lookalike with flicked up spectacles would stand up and rant about the evils of abortion.

ripsishere · 27/02/2012 09:36

My DD and DH are RC. Since she goes to a catholic school, one of the requirements is mass attendance.
DH is abroad at the moment so I take her every other week.
About a month ago it was SPUC week. I hadn't realised until an envelope was given to me at the entrance to the church for a donation.
I don't like the priest of her parish anyway - total mysogonist. A woman, who I'd always thought was a sweet old lady, got up and had a massive rant about it.
I left halfway through what she was cacking on about. Afterwards, I explained to DD my beliefs. Fortunately she wasn't shown any photos.

RabidEchidna · 27/02/2012 09:56

When I was having DS1 the hospital I was under (in a very mixed cultural area) would not tell you the sex of the baby and when I ask why I was told because a large number of women abort girls Sad

It is disgusting to about a baby because it is the WRONG gender, anyone who does should never have a child

ripsishere · 27/02/2012 10:09

Interesting rabid. My sister had the majority of her children in an area with a high number of Asian families. She had no problem finding out the sex of her children. She is white though.

RabidEchidna · 27/02/2012 10:17

This was 15 years ago now, I did ask if I could find out the sex, DS1 was desperately wanted and I did not care what sex he was, I was told the sex with DS2 as I was at a different hospital, I am white if that is relevant, but none of the women in my very mixed ante natal class were told the gender of their baby

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