China is to outlaw the selective abortion of female fetuses to correct an imbalance in the ratio of boys to girls that has grown since the family planning policy was introduced more than 20 years ago.

State media reported that government figures show 119 boys are born in the world's most populous country for every 100 girls, but Beijing has set a goal of reversing the imbalance by 2010.

China implemented the family planning policy in the early 1980s to curb its massive population -- which officially hit 1.3 billion Thursday -- but the restrictions have bolstered a traditional preference for baby boys.

The Xinhua news agency quotes Zhang Weiqing, minister in charge of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, as saying in a report that the government takes it as an urgent task to correct the gender imbalance of newborns.

As a new measure, the commission will start drafting revisions to the Criminal Law in order to effectively ban fetus gender detection and selective abortion other than for legitimate medical purposes.

Sex-selective abortion is already banned but technologies such as ultrasound have made it easier to know a baby's gender in advance, increasing the chances for aborting girls.

Experts say that criminalising the ban would be a more effective deterrent. It gave no details on what the possible punishments might be.

But demographers have said curbing the gender imbalance is not simply a case of cracking down on abortions, pointing out that in poor, rural areas, girls are often not cared for as well as boys, resulting in higher infant-death rates for girls.

Chinese traditionally prefer sons because they are seen as more able to provide for the family, to support elderly parents and to carry on the family line. Daughters become members of their husband's family when they marry. 

(CRI January 8, 2005)