China's legislature is unlikely to criminalize selective abortions of female fetuses as lawmakers with sharply divided views deleted the article from a draft amendment before a final vote.

On submission to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) for review, the first two versions of the draft amendment to the criminal law provided penalties of up to three years in jail, probation and fines for those involved in gender identification of embryos for non-medical purposes.

But in the third version before a vote on the draft amendment on June 29, lawmakers removed the stipulation as "many controversies remain".

According to the Law Committee of the NPC Standing Committee, some lawmakers and the National Population and Family Planning Commission in particular argued the rising imbalance of the newborn sex ratio was a complicated issue calling for a combination of solutions and putting it into the criminal law would just drive potential offenders underground.

However, they believed criminal penalties should not be sacrificed just because of difficulties in evidence gathering.

China has 119 boys are born for every 100 girls, much higher than the global ratio of 103 to 107 boys for every 100 girls.

But other lawmakers and law experts attributed the gender imbalance to entrenched beliefs of "valuing boys more than girls" and "bringing up boys to provide for old age", contending that such concepts should not and could not be changed by legal means.

They held that pregnant women should enjoy the right to know the sex of the fetus and an ultrasound test did not necessarily lead to abortion, as well as arguing the difficulties of gathering evidence.

Traditionally, sons have been more valued as a way for the family name to continue and to provide for the parents as they got older.

(Xinhua News Agency June 25, 2006)