The Unborn
Women's Health
Families
The Old or Infirm
Bio-technology
Media Releases
Research
About VFL
Suppporter Information

Gender Selection Fraught With Problems

Toi te Taiao - The Bioethics Council is naïve in thinking that gender-selection won’t harm girl babies.

It is a major demographic problem in China and India, and already there are reports from the United States that some immigrants are using pre-birth testing and abortion to reflect a cultural preference for boys.

However well intentioned the Council may be, in its efforts to assist couples who want a boy or girl to give some balance to their families, the potential for abuse of pre-birth technology is as likely here in New Zealand as is the practice internationally.

The British experience under the National Health Service illustrates how quickly the overriding practice becomes “search and destroy.”

While clinic administrators take pride in their detection and analysis rates, parents have reported finding themselves under enormous pressure to take the ‘socially acceptable’ option if any disability is identified – abortion.

While the Council recommends that, ‘when making decisions, parents should have access to advice and counselling that is unbiased, non-directive and includes medical and non-medical information,’ the reality is that few challenge the medical information they are given.

There are many accounts of parents resisting the pressure to terminate their pregnancy after a ‘positive result’ and going on to deliver healthy babies.  Regrettably, for those parents learning that the child they are expecting may be disabled, what is seldom mentioned is the existence of support groups and how they might find help. Read Editorial ...