National Post: Delay revealing gender of fetus to curb sex selection: experts, by Tom Blackwell:
Two Canadian medical experts arecalling for new guidelines that would bar doctors from telling parentsthe sex of their fetus until late in a pregnancy, calling it a subtleway to curb the practice of sex selection.
Writing in a majorobstetrics journal recently, the bio-ethicist and doctor say physiciansshould delay imparting information on baby sex until it is too late forthe woman to have an abortion with no questions asked.
Theyadmit it is unfortunate doctors should have to play such a role, butsay it is unavoidable because Canadian law does not address thesex-selection phenomenon — or any other aspect of abortion.
“Ithink Canadians have a sort of visceral reaction to the idea thatpeople would terminate a pregnancy based on gender alone,” said BrendanLeier, a bio-ethicist at Edmonton’s Stollery Children’s Hospital andco-author of the recommendations.
“But we have no legislation that reflects those values…. The entire burden of upholding those values falls on clinicians.” . . . . .
Added by AH on 4.12.10