Gender Selection Ads On Google, Microsoft Pulled In India

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology;  MRI / PET / Ultrasound
Article Date: 22 Sep 2008 - 6:00 PDT

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In response to a petition filed by advocates in India, Google and Microsoft have pulled ads from their Web sites for gender selection products and techniques considered illegal in the country, AFP/Yahoo! News reports (AFP/Yahoo! News, 9/18).

In an effort to address widespread abortions of female fetuses because of a preference for male children, India in 1994 approved the Prenatal Determination Act, which bans the use of technology, such as ultrasounds and sonograms, for the purpose of sex-selective abortion. The law also bans advertisements for prenatal sex determination, as well as the practice of pre-conception sex selection (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 8/14). According to AFP/Yahoo! News, the ratio of females to males in India is 927 women per every 1,000 men, compared with the worldwide ratio of 1,050 women per every 1,000 men.

In August, the country's Supreme Court requested that the two companies, as well as Yahoo, respond to complaints made by advocates who said ads for products for gender selection, such as do-it-yourself kits, deter their work to end sex-selective abortions in the country.

According to advocate Sabu George, who filed the petition, sponsored links on Google "have come down considerably" and "disappeared" from the Microsoft India search. A search on Yahoo!, however, brought up ads for resources and clinics for gender determination, according to AFP/Yahoo! News. "We take local laws extremely seriously," Google said in response to the petition, adding that that the company will not allow ads that promote pre-conception gender selection.

Google also recently agreed to change its policy on abortion-related advertisements in the United Kingdom after an antibabortion group challenged the company in court over Google's refusal to run one of the group's ads (AFP/Yahoo! News, 9/18).

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