Citation

Sharma M. Fam. Court Rev. 2008; 46(1): 198-215.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1744-1617.2007.00192.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In the midst of a genetic revolution in medicine, Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) has become a well-established technique to help infertile women achieve pregnancy. But many women are now turning to ART not just to circumvent infertility, but consciously to shape their families by determining the sex of their children. Many patriarchal cultures have a gender preference for males and to date have used technological advances in reproductive medicine to predetermine the sex of the child being born. Women have sought sex-selective abortions, where the pregnancy was being terminated solely on the basis of the sex of the unborn fetus. The combination of ART advances and gender preference has led to the disappearance of at least 100 million girls from the world's population leading to a mass gendercide. This article examines the societal impact of unbalanced gender ratios and the need to regulate sex selection to avoid nations of bachelors.