Clinic Closings in China

China, India, and Japan all have problems with severe gender imbalance in their younger populations.  Far more boys are growing into adulthood than girls.  In all three cases, the modern development of ultrasound techniques enable pregnant women to know the gender of their offspring long before birth.  In all three countries, women carry out the traditional preference for boy children by aborting the unborn baby girls. 

In an effort to redress the imbalance, China and India have both put in place bans of ultrasounds when done solely for the purpose of gender selection and both have begun disciplining medical facilities and practitioners who are complicit in aborting girl babies

A recent article from the People’s Daily Online says that 201 medical clinics in the Hebei province have been closed for complicity in gender selection since 2004.  374 others have been fined, with licenses revoked for 104 medical staffs.  In all, there have been 848 gender selection cases involving 745 hospitals and clinics.

Hebei has a severe problem: in some areas there are 134 boys for every 100 girls.

Source: Xinhua   http://english.people.com.cn/200606/01/eng20060601_270120.html  People’s Daily Online.  Updated June 1, 2006 

Updated on RARTL July, 2006