Prenatal sex discernment is the prenatal testing for discerning the sex of a fetus before birth.
Prenatal sex discernment can be performed by preimplantation genetic diagnosis before conception, but this method may not always be classified as prenatal sex discernment because it's performed even before implantation.
Potential applications of prenatal sex discernment include:
Prenatal sex determination was banned in India in 1994, under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994. [6] The act aims to prevent sex-selective abortion, which, according to the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, "has its roots in India's long history of strong patriarchal influence in all spheres of life". Prenatal sex determination has caused the child sex ratio to go down at alarming rates, in India, which is also another factor that led to its banning. [7] However, the Supreme Court of India has accused the Government of India of poor implementation and enforcement of the act. [8] Over time, there has been a substitution effect of more families participating in pre-natal sex determination instead of the previously popular act of female foeticide.
The Chinese government has enacted three laws to try to prevent future occurrences of female infanticide. The Mother and Child Health Care Law of 1994 prevented sex identification of the fetus and prohibited the use of technology for the use of selective abortions based on the fetus's sex in order to protect female infants. [9] The Marriage Law and the Women's Protection Law both prohibit female infanticide and protect women's rights. [10] There is also a campaign started called "Care for Girls" which gives financial support to female-only families and supports equality between the genders. [9] On May 1, 2016, sex determination and sex-selective abortion were prohibited. Doctors are forbidden by the state from revealing the sex of unborn babies in an effort to stop prospective parents from finding out the sex of their child and potentially abort or abandon babies. [11]