Pregnant women in Henan Province will need to present a
certificate from local family planning departments before being
able to terminate a pregnancy starting next year under a new
rule.
The rule is aimed at deterring people from aborting female
fetuses due to preferring male children.
The regulation also lays out fines for gender-based abortions
and bans pregnancy-terminating medicine from being sold at the
province's drug stores.
The move is expected to reduce abortions based on the widespread
preference for male children, which has led to a tremendous gender
imbalance in China. The current ratio of male births to female is
119:100, far above the world ratio of 105:100.
According to the new regulation, Henan residents will have to go
to specially selected hospitals to learn the gender of a fetus.
Three medical professionals must conclude that there is a medically
valid reason for terminating a pregnancy before a certificate will
be awarded from the mother's local family planning department.
Any unlicensed medical agency caught helping people determine
the gender of a fetus or conducting an illegal abortion will be
fined. Officials will confiscate all equipment and income from the
illegal clinics with serious offenders will losing their medical
licenses.
Women aborting due to gender preference will be fined a sum of
2,000 yuan (US$250). Drug shops caught selling abortion pills will
be fined 3,000-20,000 yuan (US$375-2,500). Officials will
confiscate the medicine and any illegal income.
No Henan officials could be reached for comment.
However, an official in Shanghai said that there is some medical
basis for testing the gender of fetuses. "Sometimes it is necessary
to determine a fetus' gender because doctors need to learn more
about the fetus to avoid genetic defects," Wu Xiangyong, a
spokesperson for Shanghai Population and Family Planning Commission
said.
It is illegal to employ ultrasound in order to learn the gender
of a fetus in China without a valid medical reason. However, some
illegal clinics take advantage of the ban by carrying out such
tests for women preferring a son to a daughter.
"The gender of newborns has been a sensitive issue not just in
Henan, but nationwide," said Pei Lei, a resident of Henan Province.
"I don't see it happening in the city I live in, but in the
countryside, people still favor boys over girls."
However, some people think the new rule will only benefit
illegal clinics.
"Just another impractical regulation," said a netizen posting on
Sohu.com who has been following news reports on Henan's new
regulation. "It will only benefit the underground clinics and
endanger the lives of their women clients."
Wu Xiangyong declined to discuss Henan's rule. "I'd say the
regulation means well, though I am in no place to judge a
regulation in another province," said Wu. "The registered
population of Shanghai doesn't show an obvious gender imbalance,
but it does exist among the migrant population."
(Xinhua News Agency December 13, 2006)