Sex Selection Advertised in Canada by Company 'Trying to Cash In' on Gender Beliefs
Ads promoting sex selection in Canada have been slammed by the public and called racist for advertising in papers that target South Asian communities. "Create the Family You Want: Boy or Girl" has left international communities stunned and protesting the use of such language.
According to reports, the ad was placed by the Washington Center for Reproductive Medicine in a Canadian newspaper read primarily by South Asian communities. The advertisement allows couples to know the sex of an embryo before it is implanted into the woman.
"The way I feel about this is that all the American companies that are using these ads do it for their own greed and business enhancement," Charan Gill of the Progressive Intercultural Community Services Society told the Huffington Post. "They know the Indo-Canadian community wants more boys."
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Researchers from Toronto's St. Michael's Hospital have shown that the ratio of boy to girl births is higher between these two communities. "There's certainly a ratio difference that's prominent, specifically amongst Indian women…who have had at least two prior children and in the same way among Koreans who have had one prior child," said lead author Dr. Joel Ray.
"What has been going on for many years is that couples-and I'm not suggesting any one ethnic group-who are wanting to do gender selection would go to the U.S., have an ultrasound, have the infant's sex diagnosed, and if it wasn't the sex they wanted, they would have it terminated," Dr. Albert Yuzpe told CTV British Columbia.
Boy babies are often favored over girls, as they are believed to bring more blessings upon the family and continue the family legacy. While it is a problem in South Asian countries, Raminder Dosanjh told CTV News that it is more rare in Indi-Canadian communities.
"There are pockets of the community where there is a market for this," he explained. "Somebody is trying to cash in on the belief that some sections of the Indo-Canadian community believe in having male offspring."
The ad has since been withdrawn.
