While China has banned maternal blood tests to find out the sex of the fetus, many parents illegally send their samples to Hong Kong. A practice that promotes selective abortions, in a country where the one-child policy has long persisted.
For about ten years, it has been possible, by simply analyzing a blood sample, to know whether the child you are expecting will be a girl or a boy, even before having the slightest ultrasound, at the seventh week of pregnancy.
A deficit of 31.6 women
This practice, which consists in analyzing the DNA of the fetus in the maternal blood, is prohibited in France as in China. And for good reason. In this country, where the one-child policy only officially ended in 2015, there are now 31.6 million more men than women. In force since 1979, this birth control policy has long encouraged families to selective abortion: the latter preferred to have a boy, more likely to work and support his parents financially.
If since then, Chinese families are allowed to have two children, these practices continue. Again last year, WHO has estimated that 115 boys are born for only 100 girls. Authorizing these blood tests would therefore be tantamount to allowing the selective abortions which since 1979 have contributed to the shortage of women in China.
But in the country, many parents have found a way to find out the sex of the fetus early: illegally send maternal blood tests to Hong Kong, where the practice is authorized.
“The Chinese want a boy to perpetuate the lineage”
Journalist for AFP, Catherine Lai investigated these illegal circuits of maternal blood. Many Hong Kong clinics agree to analyze blood samples while knowing their origin. “Dozens of people ready to organize smuggling to the former British colony then offer their services on social networks, which are nevertheless very watched,” writes Catherine Lai.
Posing as a potential client, a journalist from the press agency contacted three agents in China who all offered, for 580 dollars (520 euros), to send via courier to laboratories in the former colony British blood test kits.
Chinese couples prefer to go directly to Hong Kong rather than risk having their sample stopped at the border. This is the case of Mr. Wang, 39, from the province of Ghinzou, in the south of the country. “I already have three daughters. (…) The Chinese want a boy to perpetuate the lineage. It’s archaic, but a lot of people are like that”, he explains, before confiding that if this woman is still waiting a girl, she will abort. “She’s only 50 days pregnant so it can be fixed with medication.”
Questionable ethics
As for the Hong Kong laboratories carrying out these blood tests, no investigation has been brought to justice, despite requests to open investigations which have tripled since 2016, the Hong Kong Department of Health told AFP. In the event of a conviction, these laboratories could lose their approval.
Above all, there is the question of the ethics of such a practice. “Selective abortions are responsible for many tragedies in China and an imbalance of the population. How can we condone?” Asks Hong Kong MP and doctor Kwok Ka-ki. He is now campaigning for the government of his country to cooperate with Beijing in order to dismantle the traffickers who transport blood samples to Hong Kong.
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