Vietnam proposes increased fine to prevent pre-natal gender selecting

By Saadet Gokce

ISTANBUL (AA) - Vietnam has proposed raising fines to deter prenatal gender selection, local media reported Thursday.

Vietnam's Ministry of Health has cautioned against significant demographic risks if gender selection continues, according to VietNamNet News.

The proposed legislation seeks to increase the maximum fine from 30 million Vietnamese dong (about $1,152) to 100 million Vietnamese dong (approximately $3,841) for individuals and organizations that disclose or assist in gender selection.

In 2014, Vietnam's sex ratio at birth was 111.4 boys for every 100 girls, up from 109.8 in 2006, according to Ministry of Health data.

The natural ratio is between 103 and 107 boys per 100 girls.

“If no strong interventions are taken, Vietnam will face a surplus of 1.5 million men aged 15–49 by 2039, rising to 2.5 million by 2059,” the General Statistics Office predicted.

This gender imbalance could leave many Vietnamese men without lifelong partners in the future if the trend continues.

Even though Vietnam has rules and regulations in place to prevent gender selecting, a report from the Population Ordinance enforcement noted that "some healthcare staff still covertly reveal fetal gender," in several provinces.

Many institutions and their staff reportedly still use indirect methods to communicate the fetus’s sex to expecting parents, such as coded symbols and euphemisms like "takes after the father" or "similar to the first child."