Non-medical sex-selective abortion in China: ethical and public policy issues in the context of 40 million missing females

Introduction: The rapidly growing imbalance of the sex ratio at birth (SRB) in China since the late 1980s demonstrates that, despite an extensive official prohibition, sex-selective abortion has been widely practised there in the past two or three decades. Given the reality of 30-40 million missing females, China has a more challenging set of ethical and social policy issues to be addressed regarding sex-selective abortion than is the case in Western and many other countries. Sources of data: This article is based on a search and review of Chinese and English-language literature, including several very recent books in Chinese on the imbalance of the sex ratio at birth in China. It also draws on first-hand information gathered from the author's extensive fieldwork on Chinese views and experiences of abortion. Areas of agreement: The current female deficit is a real and serious problem in China-not a 'false alarm' as earlier alleged. It is a direct consequence of the widespread practice of sex-selective abortion and is chiefly caused by the strong socio-cultural preference for sons in China. Chinese academics-demographers and medical ethicists-in general agree with the official position that sex-selective abortion is morally wrong and should be legally prohibited. Areas of controversy: Some critical voices, mainly in the English-language literature, have asked whether coercive state intervention in this area is ethically justifiable. Another controversial question is whether and to what degree China's ambitious and rigorous population control programme, widely known as the 'one child' policy, is a contributing factor to the phenomenon of millions of missing females. Areas timely for developing research: Much further research on the ethical and social policy issues surrounding sex-selective abortion in the Chinese context needs to be done. Systematic quantitative and in-depth qualitative sociological investigations into Chinese people's attitudes toward the subject, and the role of medical professionals, are long overdue.