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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Sunita Puri, MA, Joint Medical Program, University of California, San Francisco & Berkeley, 570 University Hall #1190, Berkeley, CA 94704, 510-642-5740, sunita.puri@ucsf.edu

In recent years, there has been an expansion of fetal sex determination and sex selection clinics and at-home gender testing kits. While the offering of this technology is framed as offering couples more control over family planning and “family balancing,” in some instances this technology can actually result in increased reproductive coercion, marital rape, and neglect and abuse of women and unwanted girls. Advocates for South Asian immigrant women have found that women may be abused or punished for having girl children, and pressure to have sons significantly impacts their health, pregnancies, and vulnerability to coercion in family planning decisions. Immigrant women were threatened with deportation, called “infertile,” and subjected to psychological and physical harm if they did not bear a male child. Sex selection intersects clearly with violence against women and neglect of unwanted girl children, both very important women's rights and reproductive justice issues. This paper results from a qualitative research project documenting the extent of coercion involved in sex selection practices among South Asian immigrant women living in North America. It investigates the physical and psychological effects of sex selection on women and their children. It will reveal relationships between reproductive coercion, use and misuse of the language of reproductive justice, sex selection technology, and domestic violence and child neglect. The study is based in clinics offering ultrasound scanning for fetal sex determination and pre-conception sex selection. Interviews and participant observation were conducted with immigrant South Asian women, families, children, and physicians offering clinic services.

Learning Objectives:

• By the end of the session, participants will be able to re-examine the meanings of “patient autonomy” and “choice,” when some women seek abortions of female fetuses in order to avoid violence at home. Participants will also be able to describe the impacts of sex selection on the mental and physical health of immigrant women, their existing children, and unwanted female children who may experience abuse and neglect based on their sex.

Keywords: Immigrant Domestic Violence, Women's Health

Related Web page: www.berkeley.edu/news/students/2005/gender/gender_about.shtml

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No