Attitudes toward Abortion as a Means of Sex Selection

Summary

A questionnaire was administered to 317 unmarried male and female college students in order to determine the acceptability of abortion as a means of achieving offspring of a desired sex. Respondents were given three hypothetical situations (first, second, and last child) to rate, comparing the present method of amniocentesis followed by abortion with proposed simpler methods. Acceptance ranged from 4.2% to 40.3%, being greatest among the less religious, male, and Protestant respondents. Proposed methods were only slightly more acceptable than the present one. Thus, simplifying the abortion procedure for the purpose of sex selection would not appear to increase its acceptability or utilization.