Ban adverts on gender selection

Advanced clinical technologies such as ultra-sound scanning allow expecting parents in Hong Kong to find out the sex of their baby well before birth.文件倉 Some couples go further, choosing the preferred sex on non-medical grounds, even though it is prohibited by the law. This is made possible because the Human Reproductive Technologies Ordinance only outlaws sex selection, but not the promotion of such services outside the city. As long as it is done overseas, it is unrestricted.The government is rightly concerned with the proliferation of so-called medical tourism packages. As reported by the Sunday Morning Post, the agencies take advantage of the grey area in the law to arrange trips to clinics in the United States or Thailand, where sex selection is not outlawed. Clients can be charged up to HK$2.3 million for an all-inclusive package. One firm reported a strong growth in business, with some 200 new clients received last year.This is hardly surprising, since sex selection is banned in Hong Kong an存倉 on the mainland. The much-criticised one-child policy and the preference for boys over girls in Chinese society further fuel the demand.The use of human reproductive technologies is regulated with good reason, not just for the medical and legal issues involved, but also for the ethical worries over its eugenic implications. Our government recognised the need for control and started preparing a regime as early as the 1980s. But the law, which covers artificial insemination, surrogacy, sex selection and research, was not fully enforced until a few years ago. However, unlike advertisement for surrogacy which is expressly banned, the promotion of sex selection overseas is not. It is unclear whether the law was deliberately enacted in that way. But since both sex selection and surrogacy are outlawed, it makes sense to prohibit their advertisement, regardless of where the procedure takes place. It is good that the government is aware of the problem and plans to outlaw the advertising of sex selection.儲存