Unlocking Word Meanings
Read the following words/expressions found in today’s article.
1. abort (v.) – to end a pregnancy causing the death of fetus, or unborn child
Read the following words/expressions found in today’s article.
1. abort (v.) – to end a pregnancy causing the death of fetus, or unborn child
Example:
Doctors aborted the pregnancy
to save the mother’s life.
2. immigrant (n.) – describes a person
who moves to another country to permanently stay there
Example: The
immigrant became a citizen of Japan after living there for many years.
3. discrimination (n.) – the unfair
treatment of an individual or a group
Example:
Rejecting applicants based on their skin color is a form of discrimination.
4. linger (v.) – to remain or to stay
Example: The
smell of the perfume lingers after the wearer left the room.
5. diagnostic (adj.) – in medicine,
describes anything used to identify a disease
Example: The
patient learned he did not have a disease after undergoing a diagnostic test.
Article
Read the text below.
A Canadian journal says pregnant women should not be told the sex of
their unborn babies until the later stage of pregnancy. This is because doctors
have learned that some women are likely to have female fetuses aborted.
According to Dr. Rajendra Kale, editor-in-chief of the Canadian
Medical Association Journal, a small percentage of Asian immigrant parents in Canada decide to end a pregnancy after learning a fetus's sex. He says that while cases of sex-based abortions are few, the number of such abortions in North America is enough to cause an imbalance of males and females in some ethnic groups.
These abortions may also be happening because of new medical
technologies, which have allowed people to learn the sex of unborn babies
very early. A study published last year in the Journal of the American
Medical Association said that at 7 weeks, parents can know if their baby is
male or female by testing the mother’s blood.
At the same time, Canadian doctors worry that mothers will abort a
pregnancy based on these technologies, which do not always correctly report
fetus sex. The fear of sex selection also lingers in some doctors, who despite knowing correct test
results, prefer not to share them to mothers too early.
However, the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada
believes doctors should not withhold the
information, as parents have the right to know the sex of their babies. The organization also says that as part of
Canada’s standard of care, all results of diagnostic imaging
procedures--including results that show babies’ sex--must be given to
patients.
But Dr. Kale argues that a child's sex is better revealed on the
30th week of pregnancy to help prevent abortions. Even if parents learn the
sex on the 30th week, they would still have enough time to prepare
gender-appropriate things for the baby. Kale adds that the bigger issue,
however, is stopping such extreme form of female discrimination.
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Viewpoint Discussion
Enjoy a discussion with your tutor.
Discussion A
●
Is
it important for parents to know all information about their unborn child? Why
or why not?
●
What
information about an unborn child can be useful to parents?
Discussion B
●
Why
do you think some male babies are preferred over female babies?
●
Do
you think parents should give preference to one sex over the other? Why or why
not