scholarly journals Sex-selective Abortion Bans: Anti-immigrant or Anti-abortion?

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sital Kalantry
Keyword(s):  
Asian Americans ◽  
Gender Stereotypes ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sex Selection ◽  
Asian Immigrants ◽  
Small Subset ◽  
International Affairs ◽  
Selective Abortion ◽  
Family Balancing ◽  
Sex Selective Abortion

In the last five years, over half of the state legislatures in the United States have considered banning sex-selective abortion because of the (false) belief that Asian Americans are disproportionately giving birth to more boys than are European Americans. Supported by the data that applies to a very small subset of Asian Americans, proponents of the law stereotype Asian Americans by assuming that their birthing patterns are the same as those of people in India and China.Because of the undue focus on Asian immigrants in the discussions of sex selection bans, the real conversation that should occur in the American democratic system is short-circuited. States legislators and voters fail to discuss whether or not sex selection is a gateway to eugenics concerns, whether or not sex selection perpetuates gender stereotypes, and whether or not sex selection should be used for family balancing. Any bans on sex-selective abortion should take these issues into account and should not be based on misinformed views about the practices of Asian immigrants in the United States.Published: Sital Kalantry, "Sex-Selective Abortion Bans: Anti-Immigration or Anti-Abortion?", 16 Georgetown Journal of International Affairs (2015)

scholarly journals Sex-selective Abortion Bans are Not Associated with Changes in Sex Ratios at Birth in Illinois and Pennsylvania

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sital Kalantry
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Census Data ◽  
Sex Ratios ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sex Selection ◽  
Sex Ratio At Birth ◽  
Selective Abortion ◽  
Sex Selective Abortion ◽  
Newborn Children

Legal prohibitions on sex-selective abortions are proliferating in the United States. Eight state legislatures have banned abortions sought on the basis of the sex of the fetus, 21 states have considered such laws since 2009, and a similar bill is pending in U.S. Congress. These laws have been introduced and enacted without any empirical data about their impact or effectiveness. Prior studies of U.S. Census data found sex ratios among foreign-born Chinese, Korean and Indian immigrants were skewed in favor of boys, but only in families where there were already one or two girls. Using the variation in the timing of bans in Illinois and Pennsylvania as natural experiments, we compare the pre-ban and post-ban sex ratios of certain Asian newborn children in these states over 12-year periods. We then compare these ratios with the sex ratios of Asian newborn children in neighboring states during the same period. We find that the bans in Illinois and Pennsylvania are not associated with any changes in sex ratios at birth among Asians. In Illinois and its neighboring states, the sex ratio at birth of Asian children was not male-biased during our study period. On the other hand, the sex ratio at birth among Asians in Pennsylvania and its neighboring states was skewed slightly in favor of boys, but the enactment of the ban did not normalize the sex ratio. This strongly suggests that sex-selective abortion bans have had no impact on the practice of sex selection, to the extent that it occurs, in these states. This finding is highly relevant to legislative and policy debates in the U.S. Congress and state legislatures where sex-selective abortion laws are being considered.Published: Sex-selective Abortion Bans are Not Associated with Changes in Sex Ratios at Birth in Illinois and Pennsylvania (with Arindam Nandi and Brian Citro), Forum on Health and Economic Policy, December 2014 (peer-reviewed journal).

scholarly journals Sex-selective Abortion Bans are Not Associated with Changes in Sex Ratios at Birth among Asian Populations in Illinois and Pennsylvania

2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-64
Author(s):  
Arindam Nandi ◽  
Sital Kalantry ◽  
Brian Citro
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Census Data ◽  
Sex Ratios ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sex Selection ◽  
Sex Ratio At Birth ◽  
Selective Abortion ◽  
Sex Selective Abortion ◽  
Newborn Children

Abstract Legal prohibitions on sex-selective abortions are proliferating in the United States. Eight state legislatures have banned abortions sought on the basis of the sex of the fetus, 21 states have considered such laws since 2009, and a similar bill is pending in U.S. Congress. These laws have been introduced and enacted without any empirical data about their impact or effectiveness. Prior studies of U.S. Census data found sex ratios among foreign-born Chinese, Korean and Indian immigrants were skewed in favor of boys, but only in families where there were already one or two girls. Using the variation in the timing of bans in Illinois and Pennsylvania as natural experiments, we compare the pre-ban and post-ban sex ratios of certain Asian newborn children in these states over 12-year periods. We then compare these ratios with the sex ratios of Asian newborn children in neighboring states during the same period. We find that the bans in Illinois and Pennsylvania are not associated with any changes in sex ratios at birth among Asians. In Illinois and its neighboring states, the sex ratio at birth of Asian children was not male-biased during our study period. On the other hand, the sex ratio at birth among Asians in Pennsylvania and its neighboring states was skewed slightly in favor of boys, but the enactment of the ban did not normalize the sex ratio. This strongly suggests that sex-selective abortion bans have had no impact on the practice of sex selection, to the extent that it occurs, in these states. This finding is highly relevant to legislative and policy debates in the U.S. Congress and state legislatures where sex-selective abortion laws are being considered.

scholarly journals Harmful Anti-Sex-Selective Abortion Laws Are Sweeping U.S. State Legislatures: Why do Some Pro-choice People Support Them?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sital Kalantry
Keyword(s):  
Asian Americans ◽  
House Of Representatives ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
The United States ◽  
Selective Abortion ◽  
Biological Sex ◽  
Abortion Laws ◽  
Sex Selective Abortion ◽  
India And China ◽  
Pro Choice

Anti-sex selective abortion laws punish medical professionals for performing abortions if they know that the patient’s motive for the abortion relates to the predicted biological sex of the fetus. Since 2009, nearly half of all state legislatures have considered bills to prohibit sex-selective abortion. The majority of the U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor of a similar ban in 2012. That same year, anti-sex-selective legislation was the second most proposed anti-abortion prohibition in the United States. Today ten states have enacted the bans, though they are (partially) unenforceable in three states.The laws stigmatize and stereotype Asian Americans, restrict women’s access to non-selective abortion, and are likely unconstitutional. Yet, elected officials who are pro-choice have voted in favor of the bans. Liberal media sources wrongly report that Asian Americans are aborting female fetuses at rates similar to people in India and China. Pro-choice people appear to be torn about how to react to these particular abortion restrictions.

Pre-conceptual sex selection

2014 ◽  
Vol 155 (46) ◽  
pp. 1815-1819
Author(s):  
Máté Julesz
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
The United States ◽  
Criminal Code ◽  
Sex Selection ◽  
Reproductive Justice ◽  
Medically Assisted Procreation ◽  
Family Balancing ◽  
European Health ◽  
Selection For ◽  
The Catholic Church

According to Article 14 of the Oviedo Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine of the Council of Europe, the use of techniques of medically assisted procreation shall not be allowed for the purpose of choosing a future child’s sex, unless serious hereditary sex-related disease is to be avoided. In Israel and the United States of America, pre-conceptual sex selection for the purpose of family balancing is legal. The European health culture does not take reproductive justice for part of social justice. From this aspect, the situation is very similar in China and India. Reproductive liberty is opposed by the Catholic Church, too. According to the Catholic Church, medical grounds may not justify pre-conceptual sex selection, though being bioethically less harmful than family balancing for social reasons. In Hungary, according to Section 170 of the Criminal Code, pre-conceptual sex selection for the purpose of family balancing constitutes a crime. At present, the Hungarian legislation is in full harmony with the Oviedo Convention, enacted in Hungary in 2002 (Act No. 6 of 2002). Orv. Hetil., 2014, 155(46), 1815–1819.

scholarly journals PRECONCEPTION AND PRENATAL DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES ACT 1994 AND ITS MAIN ROLE TO CURB SEX DETERMINATION AND SEX SELECTION

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (7) ◽  
pp. 75-83
Author(s):  
Vaishali Waghmare ◽  
Hema Hema
Keyword(s):  
Sex Determination ◽  
Diagnostic Techniques ◽  
Sex Selection ◽  
Indian Society ◽  
Easy Access ◽  
Main Role ◽  
Low Literacy ◽  
Selective Abortion ◽  
Prenatal Diagnostic ◽  
Sex Selective Abortion

India has a male dominated culture where women are treated like a commodity and slave. Our Indian society gives preference only to the Son not to female because of which girls' child is not heartily welcomed and discrimination against girl child still prevails. Sex selective abortion is one of major issue in recent era in relation to violence against women under which the Ultrasonography machine plays an important role of sex detection. Main  cause for sex selection are Patriarchal system, Dowry system, only son who can performs the last rites, lineage and inheritance runs through the male line, the Small family norms , PARAYADHAN, easy access to the Medical facilities and Technology for Sex Selective Abortion. Low literacy rate, low socio-economic condition of women etc. Sex selection and sex determination causes violence, impact on equilibrium of nature, Polyandry, Imbalance between Male-Female populations etc Maharashtra was first State to enact Maharashtra regulation of use of PNDT Act in 1987.  The PNDT Act was passed in 1994 Hon. Supreme Court passed an Interim judgment in 2001 for more strict implementation of Act based on PIL filed by CEHAT, MASUM and AdvSabu George PNDT Act amended in 2003 to Pre conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Technique Act (PC-PNDT)  Applicable to all Govt/NGO/Private/corporate establishments . Main purpose of Act is to ban the use of sex selection techniques before and after conception and prevent the misuse of prenatal diagnostic techniques for sex selective abortion. Every offence under this Act is cognizable, non-bailable and non-compoundable (Sec 27). Act has made it mandatory to maintain records of every scan done. (Section 29 and Rule 9) Section 5 and Rule 10 (1A).Implementing Authority under the Act is Appropriate Authority (Section 17) has power to search, seize and seal clinics (Section 30). The Act prohibited  communication of sex of the foetus by words, signs or in any other manner (Section 5) , advertising sex determination test in any form are liable for punishment (Section 22) .Offence under this Act punishable with imprisonment of years which extend to 5 years and fine up to 10,000 which extend up to 50,000.

14. Abortion

Medical Law ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 735-791
Author(s):  
Emily Jackson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
The United States ◽  
Law Reform ◽  
Moral Legitimacy ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
Selective Abortion ◽  
Sex Selective Abortion ◽  
Legal Position ◽  
Academic Debate

All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing students with a stand-alone resource. This chapter examines the law on abortion, beginning with a survey of the ongoing debate over the moral legitimacy of abortion. It then examines the current legal position, and considers how the Abortion Act 1967, as amended, works in practice. It looks at recent controversies over sex-selective abortion and considers the prospects for law reform. Finally, the chapter looks briefly at the regulation of abortion in Northern Ireland, Ireland, and the United States.

scholarly journals Making Politics Visible: Discourses on Gender and Race in the Problematisation of Sex-Selective Abortion

2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Sundari Anitha ◽  
Aisha K. Gill
Keyword(s):  
Policy Process ◽  
Sex Selection ◽  
Selective Abortion ◽  
Parliamentary Debates ◽  
Close Textual Analysis ◽  
Sex Selective Abortion ◽  
Party Support ◽  
Postcolonial Feminist ◽  
Socio Economic Factors

This paper examines the problematisation of sex-selective abortion (SSA) in UK parliamentary debates on Fiona Bruce's Abortion (Sex-Selection) Bill 2014–15 and on the subsequent proposed amendment to the Serious Crime Bill 2014–15. On the basis of close textual analysis, we argue that a discursive framing of SSA as a form of cultural oppression of minority women in need of protection underpinned Bruce's Bill; in contrast, by highlighting issues more commonly articulated in defence of women's reproductive rights, the second set of debates displaced this framing in favour of a broader understanding, drawing on postcolonial feminist critiques, of how socio-economic factors constrain all women in this regard. We argue that the problematisation of SSA explains the original cross-party support for, and subsequent defeat of, the policies proposed to restrict SSA. Our analysis also highlights the central role of ideology in the policy process, thus making politics visible in policymaking.

Post-1965 Changes in Asian America

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Hinnershitz
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Asian Americans ◽  
Jim Crow ◽  
The United States ◽  
Asian Immigrants ◽  
World War ◽  
Chinese Exclusion ◽  
The 1960S

After World War II and through the 1960s, Asian Americans began a transformative process, from being the “yellow peril” to becoming the model minority, and Asian Americans in the South experienced, to some degree, the same transformation. The war and its mottos of fighting for freedom and democracy at home and abroad affected the way Americans viewed their own hypocrisy toward minorities in the United States. African Americans were the largest minority group to use the aims of the war to demand attention to their plight with Jim Crow, prompting the growth of a nationwide civil rights movement, but Americans also came to view the century-old forms of legal discrimination against Asian immigrants and Asian Americans in a new light. Not only did Congress repeal the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1943 (making it legal for some Chinese to naturalize and allowing a small number of Chinese immigrants to enter the United States), but Filipino Americans and Indian Americans received similar treatment during and after World War II. In 1952, the McCarran-Walter Act (or the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952), although designed to protect American security during the early Cold War by prohibiting and deporting subversive aliens, also made it possible for Asian immigrants of all ethnicities to become American citizens (while the number of Asians admitted to the United States did not drastically increase). Americans also viewed the ability of Japanese Americans to overcome the massive civil rights violations of wartime imprisonment and achieve economic and educational success as a model for all minorities to follow. Asian Americans came through the fires of World War II and proved that they were loyal Americans and deserving of equal treatment and respect, and while more subtle and sometimes not so subtle forms of racism and discrimination ...

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