Editorial urges docs to conceal sex of fetuses

TORONTO — An editorial in the Canadian Medical Association Journal is calling for doctors performing prenatal ultrasounds to conceal the gender of the baby for the first 30 weeks to avoid a trend of “female feticide” in the Asian community.

“Female feticide happens in India and China by the millions, but it also happens in North America in numbers large enough to distort the male to female ratio in some ethnic groups,” said the editorial by interim editor-in-chief Dr. Rajendra Kale.

“A woman has the right to medical information about herself but the sex of the fetus is medically irrelevant information —except when managing rare sex-linked illnesses — and does not affect care.

“The solution is to postpone the disclosure of medically irrelevant information to women until after about 30 weeks of pregnancy.”

A normal, full-term pregnancy is about 40 weeks. calling canada “a haven for parents who would terminate female fetuses in favour of having sons,” the editorial cited China, India, Vietnam, the Philippines and Korea as sources of immigrants who practise female feticide.

In an interview, Kale said 30 weeks was picked because after that it would be difficult for anyone to get an abortion without good medical reason for doing so.

“No physician would do an unquestioned abortion after 30 weeks,” he said.

“A woman has the right to medical information about herself, but the sex of the fetus is irrelevant information.” — Dr. Rajendra Kale

The editorial notes that evidence points to the practice happening in Canada, including a 2009 study by the National Bureau of economic research that shows a higher than normal probability of Asian immigrants here having sons in subsequent births if their first child was a girl.

The editorial highlights a U.S. study involving a sample of 65 women of indian descent. Forty per cent at some point had aborted a female fetus, while 89 percent of those who knew they were pregnant with a girl were seeking an abortion.