PACE calls on Council of Europe member states to discourage prenatal sex selection

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is concerned about the high number of sex selective abortions and thus called on a number of Council of Europe member states where this phenomenon reached “worrying proportions” to investigate the causes and reasons behind skewed sex ratios at birth. Whereas the natural sex ratio averages 105 boys to 100 girls, the figure in Albania, Armenia and Azerbaijan is 112 boys to 100 girls, while in Georgia it is 111 boys to 100 girls, Info-Prim Neo’s correspondent in Strasbourg reports. The resolution adopted by the PACE this session is based on a relevant report that was presented by Swedish parliamentarian Doris Stump following studies made in a number of Council of Europe member states. “Moldova wasn’t mentioned in this report because we do not experience sex selective abortion. This is the reason why we voted against a provision of the draft resolution whereby the doctors are banned from running tests to determine the sex of the child before birth. We consider it is not right to impose this ban on all the Council of Europe member states. But we supported the amendment saying the doctors must be trained how to present information about the sex of the fetus in a positive manner. This amendment was passed and thus the parents will not be deprived of the possibility of knowing the sex of the baby,” MP Liliana Palihovici, who heads Moldova’s delegation to the PACE, has told Info-Prim Neo. The PACE calls upon the member countries to step up their efforts to raise the status of women in society, to eliminate discrimination and violence against women as prenatal sex selection affects mainly the female sex, and to introduce legislation with a view to prohibiting sex selection in the context of assisted reproduction technologies and legal abortion, except when it is justified to avoid a serious hereditary disease. Liliana Palihovici has told Info-Prim Neo that the governments concerned will have to collect reliable data about sex ratios at birth, including in different areas of a single country. The assistance provided by the Council of Europe should be directed towards combating sex selective abortion. The PACE autumn session is taking place in Strasbourg on October 3-7. Moldova is represented by Liliana Palihovich, Igor Corman, Valeriu Ghiletski, Valeriu Munteanu, and Grigore Petrenko.