CBC's Metro Morning had an interesting segment this morning on the issue of women seeking (or, perhaps, being pressured into) abortions when the sex of the unborn child is female. The full segment can be heard here, and is relevant to the GTA because of the large Asian and South Asian communities here.

But the immediate news hook for Metro Morning was an editorial in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, which suggests that (a) this isn't a hypothetical problem, with some research suggesting a growing gap between boy/girl births in North American cities, and (b) that a policy among doctors be introduced to keep parents from learning the sex of a child until after 30 weeks of pregnancy. Says the editorial:

The sex of the fetus is medically irrelevant information (except when managing rare sex-linked illnesses) and does not affect care. Moreover, such information could in some instances facilitate female feticide. Therefore, doctors should be allowed to disclose this information only after about 30 weeks of pregnancy — in other words, when an unquestioned abortion is all but impossible.

So who could oppose a rule like that? Well, there's the little matter that the lawmaker pushing for a similar law in the U.S. is pro-life Arizona Republican Trent Franks, who perhaps doesn't have racial and gender equality at heart. He was quoted in a CMAJ news report: "I do hope that some day children of all sexes and races will be protected from abortion on demand."

So in practice, the policy proposed so far would be a further restriction on women's ability to choose in the U.S. Meanwhile, in Canada, the Conservatives are pretty hesitant to touch abortion law in any way, shape or form, despite the occasional back bencher who sets some bells ringing. I'm also not a legal expert, so I don't know how this kind of restriction would survive at the Supreme Court.

What do you think? Should the law prevent parents from knowing their baby's sex until 30 weeks through the pregnancy?

Blog photo by Mr. Toaster via Flickr.