China province closes clinics for gender selection

SHANGHAI, May 31 (Reuters) The northern Chinese province of Hebei has closed more than 200 clinics for telling women the sex of their fetuses so they can abort girls, a state newspaper said today.

China launched a one-child policy in the early 1980s to curb its population, now over 1.3 billion, but the restrictions have bolstered a traditional preference for baby boys and have come under fire from Western countries and human rights activists.

In rural areas of Hebei, there were 134 boys born for every 100 girls, the Shanghai Daily said.

That compares to about 108 boys born in China for every 100 girls in the early 1980s, close to a current global demographic norm of 103 to 107 boys per 100 girls.

The investigation involved 848 cases of illegal abortion and gender selection services, the report, said without giving a time frame.

Beijing, which already outlaws sex-selective abortions, has set a goal of reversing the gender imbalance in the world's most populous nation by 2010, state media has said.

Some activists have accused over-zealous officials of using forced abortions to meet government-set population targets.

REUTERS SRS ND1136