Abortion due to the sex of fetus

[fatagainkathsigh]

I'm a lurker in the feminist section and rarely post at all on mumsnet, though I lurk every day!
I just wondered what the feminist stance on this story is:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17136213

Surely a woman's right to choose, no one's business why a woman should terminate a pregnancy.

If for example a woman had three boys and was desperate for a girl, wouldn't it be okay to terminate if the fetus was male? Surely it's part of a woman's body and is just a bundle of cells until 24 weeks????? Why the outrage?????

Would love to hear all of your views, from a feminist perspective.

Also - the idea that the woman is making the decision to terminate a girl pregnancy is problematic. In certain cultures boys are prized more highly than girls to the extent a woman may feel a 'failure' and even be coerced into terminating a girl pregnancy.

To what extent is that her choice? She is swayed by wider structural forces, poor education, little economic power - is it ultimately her decision and is it up to society, in this context, to support this decision?

I guess by the same token is a woman's decision to lap dance for a living her decision to do what she wants with her body, or one that ultimately harms society?

norman one theory on the thread is they are worried about being sued if they get it wrong

our trust tells you is you want

Why would they be sued? What for?

chocladoodle said this upthread

"where I live, they have a policy NOT to say the sex of the baby. The reason being that in the past mistakes were made and couples ended up sueing the hospital because they had prepared for the wrong gender ie they went and spent a fortune on pink stuff only then to go on and deliver a boy!"

like I say, around here they tell you if you want to know

Daily Maily says different but granted it is The Daily Wail

it seems to be a combination of the two according to The Telegraph

"The Council of Europe is due to consider a draft resolution in October which recommends that all its 47 member states - including Britain - instruct hospitals to "withold information about the sex of the foetus" from parents.

The move is a bid to prevent the practice of selective abortion, which they say has reached worrying proportions in some former Soviet states."

That's very interesting norman.

I don't think it's a bad idea myself (with-holding).

I see your point about if it's only one clinic doing selective abortions then what's the problem in telling - problem is people can travel.

I am very concerned about the growing focus on abortion rights (and trying to curtail them) in the UK. To put it mildly. What is happening in some US states is appalling and our anti-abortion crew look to them and see what tactics work.

Why?

Why am I concerned?

Because I believe that women should have the right to access abortion and that right is currently under attack.

What is going on in the US is really scary.

Plus of course that these ideas come with a load of other stuff which is not good for women eg chastity being advocated for girls only

Sorry that was to Stewie Griffins mum

Yes I understand it is very difficult, nigh on impossible to get an abortion in some states as services are non existent.

( I would support a ban on knowing the gender unless for medical reasons)

Orry x posting - am on phone

Oh look a thread which is pretending to be about abortion but is actually just a "gotcha - you meanie feminists are hypocrites!" thread.

You can have an abortion if having the baby would be detrimental to your health adn well-being. And in many cultures, having a girl-baby instead of a boy, would be detrimental to your health and well being, almost and up to as detrimental as it was to Anne Boleyn's.

That's the real issue. This isn't really about women's choices, it's about men's. Most of these women don't have a real choice, they are having to have abortions because their female foetuses are simply not valued as highly as their male ones and they are in danger of losing status, negotiating power and safety in their marriages and extended families if they give birth to girls instead of boys.

It's heartbreaking. And all a few wankers can think of to say about it, is "aha - something to get the feminists on!" Fucking disgusting.

I don't recall anyone saying that

I think we've made the decision to take the OP at face value Basil because the issues raised are interesting and important, and it's useful to get them thought through in this forum.

I think it's been a pretty worthwhile thread despite the OP's misjudged attitude.

It is probably a small ethnic monority(s) that are doing this. It is sick and needs to be stopped NOW!!!!!

Then you either haven't read the thread with particularly close attention Norman, or you are more inclined than I am, to give some posters the benefit of the doubt.

Sorry cross posted. Yes, agreed Dilys, it backfired a bit, didn't it, as these threads so often do.

I don't think the OP was trying to create trouble at all.

However, I totally agree about the danger of women being pressurised to terminate a girl pregnancy, so I too think that information on gender should be withheld (except for medical reasons of course).

Cat on previous page:

Absolutely agree with your post. Excellent.

Some clinic doctors are breaking the law. That is wrong. Steps are being taken to stop this breaking of the law.

The law remains the same.

HTH