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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Emily Galpern, MPH, Project on Reproductive Health and Human Rights, Center for Genetics and Society, 436 14th St. Suite 700, Oakland, CA 94612, 510-625-0819 x311, egalpern@genetics-and-society.org

A human rights approach to reproductive health includes the right to decide whether and when to have children, and to have access to the information, health care, and methods necessary to inform and carry out those decisions. New technologies that allow parents to select the sex of their future child are increasingly being marketed in the United States, posing ethical challenges for reproductive decision-making. In some Asian Pacific American communities, sex selection has been used to promote the birth of baby boys, exacerbating discrimination and violence against girls and women. In countries where there is a strong preference for sons, such as India, China, and Korea, the use of sex selection has led to large imbalances in the ratio of boys to girls: for every 1,000 boys, there are 862 girls in Korea; 833 girls in China; and 927 girls in India, with some Indian provinces as low as 766 girls. The pressure to have boys has carried over to these immigrant communities in the United States and has been capitalized upon by companies marketing sex selection technologies. Advocates for reproductive rights in the APA community are faced with the challenge of how to promote women's autonomy while simultaneously preventing the normalization of sex selection technologies. This session will describe methods of sex selection, show advertisements targeting specific APA communities, demonstrate how sex selection harms the reproductive health and rights of APA women, and suggest policy proposals within a reproductive justice framework.

Learning Objectives: At the end of this session, participants will be able to

• Identify key areas of concern about the use of sex selection technologies in APA communities
• Articulate the role of marketing in the use of sex selection technologies in APA communities
• Identify how a human rights approach challenges reproductive rights advocates to adopt a new framework with regard to sex selection technologies

Keywords: Asian and Pacific Islander Women, Reproductive Health

Related Web page: www.genetics-and-society.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation