Sex-selective abortion
Sex-selective abortion is the practice of terminating a pregnancy based upon the predicted sex of the infant. As the practice overwhelmingly targets female fetuses, sex-selective abortion often specifically refers to female-selective abortion. Sex-selective abortion is closely linked to female infanticide, and is recognized by many human rights organizations as an act of violence against women.
The selective abortion of female fetuses is most common where male children are valued over female children, especially in parts of East Asia and South Asia, as well as in the Caucasus, Western Balkans, and to a lesser extent North America. Based on the third National Family and Health Survey, results showed that if both partners, mother and father, or just the father, preferred male children, sex-selective abortion was more common. In cases where only the mother prefers sons, this is likely to result in sex-selective neglect in which the child is not likely to survive past infancy.
Sex-selective abortion was first documented in 1975, and became commonplace by the late 1980s in South Korea and China and around the same time or slightly later in India.
Sex-selective abortion affects the human sex ratio—the relative number of males to females in a given age group. This contributes to a shortfall of women, as observed in particular in China and India, the two most populous countries of the world.
Studies and reports on sex-selective abortion often assume that birth-sex ratio—the overall ratio of boys and girls at birth—for a regional population is an indicator of sex-selective abortion. This assumption has been questioned by some scholars. Researchers have shown that in India there are approximately 50,000 to 100,000 female abortions each year, significantly affecting the human sex ratio.
Recent studies have expanded the understanding of this issue by quantifying trends in conditional sex ratios among Asian diaspora populations in Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US, showing that sex selection practices have persisted among diaspora communities from 1999 to 2019. Research into the past four decades of sex-selective abortions in China highlights the significant role these practices have played in shaping the country's demographic profile, despite challenges in estimating exact numbers due to underreporting and the controversial level of sex ratio at birth.
Human sex ratio at birth
Sex-selective abortion affects the human sex ratio—the relative number of males to females in a given age group. Studies and reports that discuss sex-selective abortion are based on the assumption that birth sex ratio—the overall ratio of boys and girls at birth for a regional population, is an indicator of sex-selective abortion.According to demographic scholarship, the expected birth-sex ratio range is 103 to 107 males to 100 females at birth,
with a 2002 estimate giving 106 males to 100 females. Human sex ratio at birth that is significantly different from 106 is often assumed to be correlated to the prevalence and scale of sex-selective abortion, with ratios 108 and above indicating selective abortion of females, and 102 and below indicating selective abortion of males. This assumption is controversial, and the subject of continuing scientific studies.
According to a 2013 study, in 35 out of 61 countries that were surveyed, the sex ratio would be more than 110 males to 100 females if parents could choose the gender of their children.
High or low human sex ratio implies sex-selective abortion
One school of scholars suggest that any birth sex ratio of boys to girls that is outside the normal 105–107 range, necessarily implies sex-selective abortion. These scholars claim that both the sex ratio at birth and the population sex ratio are remarkably constant in human populations. Significant deviations in birth sex ratios from the normal range can only be explained by manipulation, that is sex-selective abortion.In a widely cited article, Amartya Sen compared the birth sex ratio in Europe and the United States with those in Asia and argued that the high sex ratios in East Asia, West Asia and South Asia may be due to excessive female mortality. Sen pointed to research that had shown that if men and women receive similar nutritional and medical attention and good health care then females have better survival rates, and it is the male which is the genetically fragile sex.
Sen estimated 'missing women' from extra women who would have survived in Asia if it had the same ratio of women to men as Europe and the United States. According to Sen, the high birth sex ratio over decades implies a female shortfall of 11% in Asia, or over 100 million women as missing from the 3 billion combined population of South Asia, West Asia, North Africa and China.
High or low human sex ratio may be natural
Other scholars question whether birth sex ratio outside 103–107 can be due to natural reasons. William James and others suggest that conventional assumptions have been:- there are equal numbers of X and Y chromosomes in mammalian sperms
- X and Y stand equal chance of achieving conception
- therefore equal number of male and female zygotes are formed, and that
- therefore any variation of sex ratio at birth is due to sex selection between conception and birth.
James' hypothesis is supported by historical birth sex ratio data before technologies for ultrasonographic sex-screening were discovered and commercialized in the 1960s and 1970s, as well by reverse abnormal sex ratios currently observed in Africa. Michel Garenne reports that many African nations have, over decades, witnessed birth sex ratios below 100, that is more girls are born than boys. Angola, Botswana and Namibia have reported birth sex ratios between 94 and 99, which is quite different from the presumed 104 to 106 as natural human birth sex ratio.
John Graunt noted that in London over a 35-year period in the 17th century, the birth sex ratio was 1.07; while Korea's historical records suggest a birth sex ratio of 1.13, based on 5 million births, in 1920s over a 10-year period. Other historical records from Asia too support James' hypothesis. For example, Jiang et al. claim that the birth sex ratio in China was 116–121 over a 100-year period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries; in the 120–123 range in the early 20th century; falling to 112 in the 1930s.
Data on human sex ratio at birth
In the United States, the sex ratios at birth over the period 1970–2002 were 105 for the white non-Hispanic population, 104 for Mexican Americans, 103 for African Americans and Native Americans, and 107 for mothers of Chinese or Filipino ethnicity. In the aggregated results of 56 Demographic and Health Surveys in African countries, the birth sex ratio was found to be 103, though there is also considerable country-to-country, and year-to-year variation.In a 2005 study, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported sex ratio at birth in the United States from 1940 over 62 years. This statistical evidence suggested the following: For mothers having their first baby, the total sex ratio at birth was 106 overall, with some years at 107. For mothers having babies after the first, this ratio consistently decreased with each additional baby from 106 towards 103. The age of the mother affected the ratio: the overall ratio was 105 for mothers aged 25 to 35 at the time of birth; while mothers who were below the age of 15 or above 40 had babies with a sex ratio ranging between 94 and 111, and a total sex ratio of 104. This United States study also noted that American mothers of Hawaiian, Filipino, Chinese, Cuban and Japanese ethnicity had the highest sex ratio, with years as high as 114 and average sex ratio of 107 over the 62-year study period. Outside of United States, European nations with extensive birth records, such as Finland, report similar variations in birth sex ratios over a 250-year period, that is from 1751 to 1997 AD.
Female Selective abortions in Asia are predominantly practiced in areas such as Taiwan, China, and India. The Sex ratio at birth in Asia based on worldwide data is 104 and 107 males per 100 females, which was the accepted norm before sex selective abortion was available. Unfortunately, census results from 2000 are still being reviewed and currently unavailable.
In 2017, according to CIA estimates, the countries with the highest birth sex ratio were Liechtenstein, Northern Mariana Islands, China, Armenia, Falkland Islands, India, Grenada, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Albania, Azerbaijan, San Marino, Isle of Man, Kosovo and Macedonia. Also in 2017 the lowest ratio was in Nauru at 83. There were ratios of 102 and below in several countries, most of them African countries or Black/African majority population Caribbean countries: Angola, Aruba, Barbados, Bermuda, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Kazakhstan, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Togo, Uganda, Zambia.
There is controversy about the notion of the exact natural sex ratio at birth. In a study around 2002, the natural sex ratio at birth was estimated to be close to 1.06 males/female. There is controversy whether sex ratios outside the 103-107 range are due to sex-selection, as suggested by some scholars, or due to natural causes. The claims that unbalanced sex ratios are necessary due to sex selection have been questioned by some researchers. Some researchers argue that an unbalanced sex ratio should not be automatically held as evidence of prenatal sex-selection; Michel Garenne reports that many African nations have, over decades, witnessed birth sex ratios below 100, that is more girls are born than boys. Angola, Botswana and Namibia have reported birth sex ratios between 94 and 99, which is quite different than the presumed "normal" sex ratio, meaning that significantly more girls have been born in such societies.
In addition, in many developing countries there are problems with birth registration and data collection, which can complicate the issue. With regard to the prevalence of sex selection, the media and international attention has focused mainly on a few countries, such as China, India and the Caucasus, ignoring other countries with a significant sex imbalance at birth. For example, Liechtenstein's sex ratio is far worse than that of those countries, but little has been discussed about it, and virtually no suggestions have been made that it may practice sex selection, although it is a very conservative country where women could not vote until 1984. At the same time, there have been accusations that the situation in some countries, such as Georgia, has been exaggerated. In 2017, Georgia' sex ratio at birth was 107, according to CIA statistics.