Don’t reveal babies sex to avoid abortions in Canada

Canada, 23rd January: Immigrants in Canada must not be revealed about the sex of their babies if the nation wants to avoid abortions, warns Dr. Rajendra Kale, a famous Canadian doctor.

Health care workers must not disclose the gender of the fetus until 30 weeks of pregnancy since it is the only way for halting sex-selective abortions among immigrants in Canada, cautions Dr. Kale, who is also an editor-in-chief of the Canadian Medical Journal (CMAJ).

Sex-selective abortions coming to Canada—It is being claimed that immigrants coming to Canada are bringing with them the widespread norm of abortions based on babies sex. Dr. Kale blamed skewed male-female ratios among majority of immigrants belonging to South Asian communities to sex-selective abortions.

Several nations including China, India, Vietnam and Korea are known to be indulging in the practice of abortions of female fetuses due to preference for male child. And this practice is coming to Canada along with immigrants, admits Kale.

While citing the findings of a recent study undertaken in Canada, he recounts a distorted male-female ration among members belonging to Indo-Canadian community living in Canada. Immigrants often go for abortion especially if they have two girls already, Kale states.

Postpone gender disclosure to control abortions in Canada--Hence, he suggests a good remedy of keeping the sex of the unborn baby hidden from the pregnant immigrant women until after the completion of 30 weeks of pregnancy.

That’s because doctors don’t perform abortions once the fetus is 22 weeks old unless and until there is some crucial abnormality or any danger to the life of the pregnant woman due to pregnancy.

Getting knowledge about the sex of the baby in the womb is not a right in any way, argues Kale. Meanwhile, some seem to disagree with Kale’s views.

Rather, the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, a leading Gyn/Obstetrics group in Canada, says knowing the sex of the fetus is the patient’s right.

So, the nation must focus on imparting proper education to the immigrants if it wants to bring a change in the cultural norms of immigrants living in Canada or people will go to sex determination tests available on the market.