What are the laws related to sex selection in the United States?
Sex selection laws in the United States are mainly state-driven, with some states having enacted laws to limit or prohibit the practice. Michigan falls into this category. Michigan has a State-level statute making sex-selection abortions unlawful. This means that it is illegal for a doctor to perform an abortion with the knowledge that the abortion is being sought based on the sex of the fetus. The doctor is required by law to report any sex selection abortions to the State Attorney General. Under Michigan law, any person who knowingly solicits or consents to an abortion which is sought because of the sex of the fetus can be prosecuted. This includes parents, doctors, nurses or anyone else who is part of the decision to abort a fetus due to its sex. Michigan is one of the thirteen states in the United States that have enacted laws related to sex selection. The other states are Arizona, Oklahoma, Louisiana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Iowa. The aim of these laws is to discourage sex-selection abortions – a practice that has become increasingly prevalent in many countries around the world, with women often having to abort female fetuses due to a patriarchal preference for having male children. By making sex selection abortions illegal in the US, the hope is that this practice will be eliminated.
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