Donât like Your Babyâs Gender? Sweden Rules 'Gender-Based' Abortion Legal
Posted by Cole Gamble
Now, according to a Swedish medical ruling, if a mother or couple discover the gender of their baby and decide âthatâs not what we were hoping forâ they can get an abortion on that basis.
Hereâs how it broke down. A Swedish mother of two girls requested two abortions in a row after learning the gender of her fetus. It became apparent to doctors her decision to abort was based on the discovery of gender, which obviously was not the one she was aiming for. Doctors at Mälaren Hospital expressed concern and asked Swedenâs National Board of Health and Welfare to draw up guidelines on how to handle requests in the future in which they "feel pressured to examine the fetusâs gender" without having a medically compelling reason to do so.
The board found such requests cannot be refused, and neither can abortions, thus medical staff cannot refuse to perform an abortion based on gender.
Now the idea of isolating a âgayâ gene in fetuses and therefore âeliminatingâ it has been bandied about by rather tacky political pundits. But before we get to that moral maelstrom, pick-and-choose baby gender is already here. Sure, the day when doctors can fudge your babyâs DNA to increase the probability of a boy or girl is possibly coming sooner than later, but for now, if you donât like what you got, scrap it and start again.
Does this already happen discreetly in America? I canât imagine anyone would ever openly admit to their doctor or otherwise that they want to abort the baby because âI really had my heart set on a girlâ but that doesnât mean it isnât happening. Do you think this is more common that people are admitting?
http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/stro...0_Gender_2D00_Based_2700_-Abortion-Legal.aspx
Posted by Cole Gamble
Now, according to a Swedish medical ruling, if a mother or couple discover the gender of their baby and decide âthatâs not what we were hoping forâ they can get an abortion on that basis.
Hereâs how it broke down. A Swedish mother of two girls requested two abortions in a row after learning the gender of her fetus. It became apparent to doctors her decision to abort was based on the discovery of gender, which obviously was not the one she was aiming for. Doctors at Mälaren Hospital expressed concern and asked Swedenâs National Board of Health and Welfare to draw up guidelines on how to handle requests in the future in which they "feel pressured to examine the fetusâs gender" without having a medically compelling reason to do so.
The board found such requests cannot be refused, and neither can abortions, thus medical staff cannot refuse to perform an abortion based on gender.
Now the idea of isolating a âgayâ gene in fetuses and therefore âeliminatingâ it has been bandied about by rather tacky political pundits. But before we get to that moral maelstrom, pick-and-choose baby gender is already here. Sure, the day when doctors can fudge your babyâs DNA to increase the probability of a boy or girl is possibly coming sooner than later, but for now, if you donât like what you got, scrap it and start again.
Does this already happen discreetly in America? I canât imagine anyone would ever openly admit to their doctor or otherwise that they want to abort the baby because âI really had my heart set on a girlâ but that doesnât mean it isnât happening. Do you think this is more common that people are admitting?
http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/stro...0_Gender_2D00_Based_2700_-Abortion-Legal.aspx