“There is such a thing as too many daughters, but not too many sons”

ScienceDirect - Social Science & Medicine : “There is such a thing as too many daughters, but not too many sons”: A qualitative study of son preference and fetal sex selection among Indian immigrants in the United States: Although sex selection has been prohibited in India, it is available to South Asian families who have emigrated to the U.S. The cultural roots of son preference include the socioeconomic value of sons and the fear of raising daughters in the U.S. Eighty-nine percent [58 out of 65 women studied!] of sex-selecting women terminated their pregnancy after discovering they were carrying a female fetus. Son preference was at times accompanied by verbal and physical abuse toward women who carried a female fetus to term. The proliferation of reproductive technology frequently has unanticipated cultural and gender-based ethical implications.

Related: The ethics of sex-selection