Abstract
The paper proposes a socioeconomic framework of supply, demand, and regulation to explain the development of sex-selective abortion in several parts of the world. The framework is then applied to three countries of southern Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia) where sex-selective abortion has developed since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The authors argue that sex-selective abortion cannot be explained simply by patriarchal social systems, sex discrimination, or son preference. The emphasis is put on the long-term acceptability of abortion in the region, on acceptability of sex-screening by both the medical establishment and by the population, on newly imported techniques of sex-screening, and on the changing demand for children associated with the major economic and social changes that followed the dismantlement of the Soviet Union.
Video abstract
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Acknowledgments
SAH and CAL warmly thank all the persons who welcomed them in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, and accepted long discussions on these difficult issues. The authors warmly thank Ms France Toma from IRD, Bondy, who taped and formatted the video abstract.
Disclosure
The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.