I recently came across an article about a man in Afghanistan who strangled his wife after she gave birth to a third daughter. While this is a more extreme case than most, it is not the first time anyone has heard of gender preference. In many countries a son is favored over a daughter, but would you consider the United States or Canada as one of those countries? I personally would not, but some professionals think otherwise and are seeking legal action to eliminate the possibility.

Why do these professionals think that gender selective abortion is probable in North America? Immigrants from cultures that value sons over daughters may carry their beliefs with them and abort female fetuses upon discovering the sex of their unborn child. What is their solution to this problem? Prohibiting the mother from learning the sex of the baby until she is at least thirty weeks into her pregnancy.

While I understand that the doctors who endorse this movement are only trying to protect the ethics of medicine, I find several aspects about this idea to be unethical. First, a patient has the right to know medical information about themselves when it is available. When applied to this case, a woman has the right to know the sex of her child as soon as an ultrasound is able to reveal it.

Although an unborn child’s sex can be seen as non-vital information to a woman’s well-being, it is usually something that she and her family look forward to. People often order gender reveal cakes, they buy pink or blue clothing and they choose names in anticipation of their child. Of course these things can be done just as easily at thirty weeks as at eighteen, the point is that the sex of a child is something parents want to know, and they should be able to as soon as they wish.

Second, I believe this proposal makes unfair assumptions about immigrant groups. The main argument these professionals are using to promote the potential law is that immigrant groups from Asia, specifically China, India and Korea, will learn the sex of their child early and then choose to have an abortion if they are carrying a girl. While sons may be favored in these countries there is no reliable evidence that these immigrant groups will utilize abortion to ensure they bear a son. They are simply making a generalized assumption about a group of people based on the culture that they came from, and it’s not fair to make such an assumption without concrete evidence.

I do agree with the doctors on one point: Using abortion to be selective about gender is unethical. But before looking into the subject a little further, I had no idea that such a problem even existed this close to home. Is it even a big problem in North America at all? I really do not think so. If it really is a problem, I believe that this issue would be given more attention and because truly this is something we would find unethical. Naturally there is a chance that I could be wrong, maybe it really is a problem that needs to be addressed, but I would rather be proved wrong with evidence than by a blind assumption about the immigrant population.