In Thailand, baby gender selection loophole draws China, HK women to IVF clinics

[webfact]

In Thailand, Baby Gender Selection Loophole Draws China, HK Women to IVF Clinics
By BYRON KAYE & KHETTIYA JITTAPONG / REUTERS

SYDNEY/BANGKOK — At 26, with a baby daughter, a Hong Kong mother and her husband wanted a second child. To make sure it would be a boy, they paid US$9,000 and flew to Thailand, the last place in Asia where gender selection treatment is available and breaks no law.

“In Chinese tradition, a girl and a boy means good, perfect,” said the mother, who requested anonymity. “There’s nothing wrong with girls, but in Hong Kong and Chinese tradition all families like boys.”

The mother is one of hundreds of women from mainland China, Hong Kong and Australia who visit Bangkok each year for in vitro fertilization (IVF) with the option of choosing the child’s gender by discarding fertilized eggs, or embryos, of the unwanted sex.

The only other countries where the technique is permitted and available are the United States and South Africa—in both cases at a higher financial cost.

The dozen or so clinics that offer the service in Bangkok say it gives parents the chance to “balance” the genders in their growing families, but medical authorities want the practice banned

Full story: http://www.irrawaddy.org/asia/thailand-baby-gender-selection-loophole-draws-china-hk-women-ivf-clinics.html

-- THE IRRAWADDY 2014-07-16

[Thai at Heart]

Why does Thailand continue to have these ethical loopholes in its laws. Is it this overriding faith in Khon dee?

[daoyai]

Gender selection, via abortion has resulted in something like 135million more young men than women in good ol' china.... lot of horny loney dudes.

[pattayaorganic]

Gender selection, via abortion has resulted in something like 135million more young men than women in good ol' china.... lot of horny loney dudes.

Exactly. This is gender selection prior to fertilisation a much more benign form compared to the abortion route.

[belg]

china & their love with boys... they can always come to thailand when they are adult to come to find pleasure or a bride in the hot spots of thailand

[FangFerang]

Gender selection is not objectively immoral. The aftermath raises huge questions: if male gender-favored cultures...Thai, Chinese and almost all Asian nations, all engage in gender selection, what will happen when there are not enough women?

This is no menial inquiry.

Ironically, mitochondrial DNA is passed through female progenitors to the next generations. Attaching a male name is artificial and cosmetic. Even in the West, women typically take the man's name...but it doesn't change nature or genetics. The female genome is much more robust in continuing a line than any male. Sure we males lead when we dance, we initiate contact with potential mates...but, that doesn't change heredity one bit.

It is all skewed weird to think about when social norms and what would be naturally healthy populations reach entirely different conclusions. Frankly, it smells like socio-economic Frankenstein to me.

Edited July 16, 2014 by FangFerang

[Jonmarleesco]

'The dozen or so clinics ... say it gives parents the chance to “balance” the genders in their growing families ...' Growing families? Bull***t! Unless China has changed its official outlook, they maintain a one child/one family policy for much of the population. Still, such selectivity itself offers hope for the globe's increasing numbers - though, perhaps, with an increasingly homosexual population, something that will give the ruling party the shivers.

[JacChang]

It's a propaganda. To increase the army.

Attack of the clones!

[Payboy]

Aren't Thai clinics offering the third gender option in that loophole?

Edited July 16, 2014 by Payboy

[Thai at Heart]

The social engineering experiment in China of One Family One Child is going to make for very very interesting study over the next few years.

Call them little emporers or whatever you like. I have called them a few names in my time.

[noitom]

Thailand, the hub of gender selection.

[doctorproc156]

Why does Thailand continue to have these ethical loopholes in its laws. Is it this overriding faith in Khon dee?

There is no societal issue with whatever gender your child is in Thailand, the population is quite equally balanced. I think it's a good thing that those that want to choose have such a service available to them. The Thai people that do this are on the fringes and don't really make much of a difference. If this was legal in China on the other hand, then all hell will break loose like how it already has.

[HannahD]

All those surplus males in China, who outnumber Thai women at least 2 to 1, will come to Thailand and marry all the marriageable Thai women. If you think sin sod is steep now, just wait a few years.

[submaniac]

The only other countries where the technique is permitted and available are the United States and South Africa—in both cases at a higher financial cost.

Don't think it is fair just to poo poo Thailand...

[sara275]

i think for someone who is extremely serious about choosing the gender of their baby and are considering extreme measures like abortion, then gender selection is probably not a bad idea.

[SiSePuede419]

Turning China into a sausage fest just means more violence in the future by low-status Blueballs...