IHR Clinic Releases Report on Sex-Selective Abortion Laws in the United States
University of Chicago Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic released a multi-disclipinary report on sex-selective abortion laws in the United States. Eight states in the country have enacted bans on sex selection abortion and 21 other states and the U.S. Congress have considered such bills. Students in the International Human Rights Clinic with supervision from Clinic Director Professor Kalantry and Clinic Fellow Brian Citro worked with economists, reproductive technologies experts, and national policy leaders to examine data and conduct other research to prove that proponents of these laws inaccurately claim that Asian-Americans are aborting female fetuses in the United States consistent with the practices that may exist in their countries of origin. Once the inaccuracies and misinformation used to support these laws are exposed in the report, all that remains are harmful stereotypes about Asian-Americans that are being used to support these bans.
IHR Clinic students Kelsey Stricker (2014), Jeff Gilson (2014) and Bill Watson (2014) researched, drafted and edited the report and first year law students Lindsay Gus (2016) and Marlow Svatek (2016) provided critical research support on a volunteer basis. Research for the report included a trip to New Delhi, India, during which Brian Citro and Jeff Gilson conducted interviews with physicians, lawyers, government officials, social activists and academics towards understanding the practice of sex selection and the related phenomenon of son preference in India. The Coase-Sandor Institute for Law and Economics at the University of Chicago Law School provided research support for the report.
You can read the report, Emily Bazelon’s article on the report, or the (NSFW) Jezebel article on the report. You can also watch or listen to a panel discussion on the report recorded earlier this year at the Law School.
Update: There has also been coverage of the report from Mother Jones, RH Reality Check, and Creative Loafing Tampa Bay