Re-visioning evidence

Reflections on the recent controversy around gender selective abortion in the UK

Bibliographic Data

ID15540407
AuthorsM Unnithan (0000-0002-7649-7282, University of Sussex, corresponding author), Sylvie Dubuc (0000-0002-2622-6169, Oxford Policy Management)
Year2017
Volume13
Issue6
Pages742-753
Publication date2017-07-14
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGlobal Public Health (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1744-1692 • E-ISSN: 1744-1706
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17441692.2017.1346694
PMID28705073
OpenAlexW2735509767
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited28

Reports in the British media over the last 4 years have highlighted the schisms and contestations that have accompanied the reports of gender selective abortions amongst British Asian families. The position that sex-selection may be within the terms of the 1967 Abortion Act has particularly sparked controversy amongst abortion campaigners and politicians but equally among medical practitioners and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service who have hitherto tended to stay clear of such debates. In what ways has the controversy around gender-based abortion led to new framings of the entitlement to service provision and new ways of thinking about evidence in the context of reproductive rights? We reflect on these issues drawing on critiques of what constitutes best evidence, contested notions of reproductive rights and reproductive governance, comparative work in India and China as well as our involvement with different groups of campaigners including British South Asian NGOs. The aim of the paper is to situate the medical and legal provision of abortion services in Britain within current discursive practices around gender equality, ethnicity, reproductive autonomy, probable and plausible evidence, and policies of health reform

Abortion · Autonomy · Context (archaeology · Corporate governance · Economic growth · Entitlement (fair division · Geography · Political science · Population · Pregnancy · Reproductive health · Reproductive justice · Reproductive rights · Sociology · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Demography · Gender Studies · Global Maternal and Child Health · Law · Reproductive Health and Contraception