Reproductive Racism: Gender Selection Technologies Target Asian Communities

Shekar, Preeti, Colorlines Magazine

NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING ECONOMIST AMARTYA SEN speaks of "missing women." Other experts call the phenomenon "gendercide." They refer to gender selection, a practice that is thriving in South Asian societies in the United States and abroad, thanks to new, sophisticated reproductive technologies.

"We get several calls a week from folks, especially from India and China either living here or who plan to visit, asking if we can definitely help them make a baby boy," notes a hotline operator for The Fertility Institutes in Los Angeles, one of numerous clinics that have mushroomed in the United States to cater to the growing demand for state-of-the-art reproductive technologies.

There are currently three techniques of gender selection available: pre-natal testing, pre-implantation genetic diagnoses and sperm sorting. Pre-natal testing consists of ultrasound that detects the gender of the fetus, allowing parents to abort if the fetus is of an undesired sex. The latter two techniques are more complex. With genetic diagnosing, a woman first goes through in …

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Publication information: Article title: Reproductive Racism: Gender Selection Technologies Target Asian Communities. Contributors: Shekar, Preeti - Author. Magazine title: Colorlines Magazine. Volume: 10. Issue: 5 Publication date: September-October 2007. Page number: 23+. © 2009 Color Lines Magazine. COPYRIGHT 2007 Gale Group.

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