Doctors should never disclose the sex of an unborn baby until after the 30-week mark of pregnancy to protect females from gender-based abortions practiced by some ethnic groups, according to a prominent Canadian physician.
Dr. Rajendra Kale, interim editor-in-chief of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, said Canada should prohibit the early disclosure of the sex of a fetus to combat female feticide — the abortion of female fetuses because of a preference for sons — by some ethnic groups in Canada and the United States.
In an editorial in CMAJ, Kale acknowledged the practice is rare compared with the situation in India and China – where feticide is more widely practiced. But she argued it is a significant issue.
“Small numbers cannot be ignored when the issue is about discrimination against women in its most extreme form," she wrote. "This evil devalues women. How can it be curbed? The solution is to postpone the disclosure of medically irrelevant information to women until after about 30 weeks of pregnancy."
Although a woman has a right to information about herself that relates to her health and medical care, Kale said: "the sex of the fetus is medically irrelevant information (except when managing rare sex-linked illnesses) and does not affect care."
Most pregnant women have an ultrasound performed between 18 and 22 weeks of pregnancy.
Kale, a native of India, said research in Canada and the United States indicating that immigrants in certain ethnic groups, including people from China, Korea and India, may abort female fetuses.