Abortions may be behind skewed boy-girl birth ratio among Indian-born moms: study

A new study finds that Indian-born women in Canada withtwo or more children are giving birth to more baby boys than
expected. And researchers suggest abortions related to sex selectionmay be a major reason.

• White Coat, Black Art:Fetal sex selection apparently happens in Canada

The study says Canadian-born women in Ontario gave birth to about105 boys for every 100 girls between 1993 and 2012, consistent withthe average in most of the world.

But women who immigrated from India who already had two childrengave birth to 138 boys for every 100 girls. If they already hadthree children, they give birth to 166 males for every 100 females.

That ratio rises to 326 boys per 100 girls for Indian-bornmothers with two daughters who had an abortion preceding her thirdbirth.

It was 409 boys for every 100 girls if the mother had more thanone abortion.

Lead author Marcelo Urquia of Toronto's St. Michael's Hospitalsays it's illegal in Canada to use such technologies as in-vitrofertilization to select the sex of a fetus.

But an ultrasound can show the baby's sex at 14 weeks' gestation,at which point a woman can choose to terminate the pregnancy.

Urquia says because abortions are legal and covered by governmenthealth insurance, families with a preference for sons may be usingthe procedure to try to get a boy.

The study was published Monday in the Canadian MedicalAssociation Journal.

You can read the full study here: