Sex selection, gender‐based violence and human rights abuse

Abstract

In the Peoples Republic of China over 10% of young women are missing. One major contributory factor to this loss of millions of human lives is sex selective abortion based on early ultrasound. This practice legal or illegal is also common in other countries such as parts of India. In this light it is surprising that Hsiao et al. in Acta number 1 2008 do not even mention this dilemma in their study of early fetal sex determination by ultrasound. They do refer to the fact that many Taiwanese/Chinese wish to have early information on fetal sex however they do not mention the ethical dilemma of disclosing such information particularly in parts of the world where such information may lead to - and does lead to - the earliest form of gender-based violence and major human rights abuse directed against the female sex. The Editors comment does raise this dilemma however this is insufficient as many readers will read the original paper only. FIGOs ethical guidelines emphasize that professional societies and their members are accountable for the employment of techniques for sex selection only for medical indications; and that in regional areas with marked sex ratio imbalance professional societies should work with governments to ensure that sex selection is strictly regulated. It is surprising to us that Acta would permit such a paper to go to print without any discussion in the paper of the ethical and human rights implications of the scientific findings. (full text)