On Thursday, Korea’s Constitutional Court overturned a 1987 law banning doctors from telling parents the sex of the fetus, declaring that the law was “out of step with social changes” and an infringement on the rights of health care professionals. Korea’s sex ratio at birth reached a peak of 116 boys for every 100 girls in 1990 and has steadily declined to 107 boys in 2006, close to the norm of 105.
Constitutional Court Strikes Down Ban on Telling Parents Sex of Baby
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This law was another example of Koreans not bothering to actually do as the law said. My wife and I were told the gender of our child as soon as the doctor could tell.
And the reason for the decline is this law… So it’s back to normal, ob-gyns can resume aborting more girls in the near future…
This law was probably enforced about as well as traffic laws. When my son was born here, my wife’s OB/GYN had no issues with telling us the sex of the baby. I got the impression that even were we not foreigners he still would have had no issues with telling us.
Some doctors were willing to tell parents despite the law. Others would tell them indirectly. Having said that, many doctors took it seriously. I would not be surprised, as dda predicts, if the ratio were to rise a little.
I consider myself a pro-choice guy overall, but this is an aspect of abortion that makes it difficult for me to be an unconditional supporter of a woman’s right to choose.
And, this is not a uniquely Korean problem. I gather that parents, in particular parents from cultural backgrounds where male babies are preferred, have also been doing this in North America and elsewhere.
“This law was probably enforced about as well as traffic laws.”
My wife asked her doctor a couple of times during her pregnancy – for the record, we were merely curious – and got no response. Not even a hint. I know a few other couples here who had similar experiences.
We practically had to hold a knife to the throat of the ultrasound technician. This was last July.
What eventually did it? I was heading to Canada for two weeks, including serious shopping. I HAD TO KNOW.
We’re both non-Korean.
The social attitude in Korea towards male preference did change quite a bit in the last 20 years since the law. My cousin has three little boys, and everywhere she goes she gets pity remarks about how she doesn’t have a daughter.
This country needs more girls. The men are ruining it.
The doctor for both of my children told us that she would not inform us as she would get fired if she did. If we insisted she would have to send us to another hospital.
Anyhow, I liked the surprise of not knowing and all is well.
Depending on the age groups, many people prefer girls over boys. The older they are, the more preference for boys.
Let’s see, 1990… That would explain the abundance of pink shirts seen on the male college students.
Big B, thank you, you just made me change shirts.
Our OBGYN wouldn’t tell my wife when she asked. Instead, he turned to me and told me in English (knowing all too well that my wife speaks English)…but I already knew. I was waiting to leave his office to tell my wife the news.
You see, just a few minutes before, I had taken the copy of our fetus’s chromosomes that he had on his desk (we had prenatal screening tests done a week or two before). I had asked to keep the pictures, and he agreed. He didn’t realize that I wanted to take a look at the letters transcribed for the 23rd pair of chromosomes(it’s smaller than the other pairs, so normally they only write if the pair is XX or XY).
Correction…the copy of the pictures of our…
Having a girl is more valuable now in Korea and I heard there is Korean saying about parent get to ride the airplane from the daughter but only tour bus from the son. Correct?
#gvi, I think the problem has been even worse in India
#15,
Yes, and some of the reasons behind this are just as shallow as some people’s preference for boys.
My wife is pregnant, and the doctor told us that could not say if is a boy or a girl, but she said that can tell us if is “flat” or “not flat”…and I’m not joking…
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