Between February 2012 and March 2015, the claim that sex selection abortion was taking place in Britain and that action needed to be taken to stop it dominated debate in Britain about abortion. Situating an analysis in sociological and social psychological approaches to the construction of social problems, particularly those considering “feminised” re-framings of anti-abortion arguments, this paper presents an account of this debate. Based on analysis of media coverage, Parliamentary debate and official documents, we focus on claims about grounds (evidence) made to sustain the case that sex selection abortion is a British social problem and highlight how abortion was problematised in new ways. Perhaps most notable, we argue, was the level of largely unchallenged vilification of abortion doctors and providers, on the grounds that they are both law violators and participants in acts of discrimination and violence against women, especially those of Asian heritage. We draw attention to the role of claims made by feminists in the media and in Parliament about “gendercide” as part of this process and argue that those supportive of access to abortion need to critically assess both this aspect of the events and also consider arguments about the problems of “medical power” in the light of what took place.

中文翻译：

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将堕胎视为社会问题：“性别选择”与英国堕胎辩论

2012 年 2 月至 2015 年 3 月期间，英国发生了性别选择堕胎，需要采取行动阻止堕胎的说法在英国主导了关于堕胎的辩论。本文将分析构建社会问题的社会学和社会心理学方法，特别是那些考虑“女性化”重新构建反堕胎论点的方法，对这场辩论进行了说明。基于对媒体报道、议会辩论和官方文件的分析，我们关注关于支持性别选择堕胎是英国社会问题的理由（证据）的主张，并强调堕胎是如何以新方式被问题化的。我们认为，也许最值得注意的是对堕胎医生和提供者的诽谤程度基本上没有受到质疑，理由是她们既是违法者，又是歧视和暴力侵害妇女的行为的参与者，尤其是那些亚洲血统的妇女。我们提请注意媒体和议会中女权主义者关于“性别灭绝”的主张作为这一过程的一部分的作用，并认为那些支持堕胎的人需要批判性地评估事件的这方面，并考虑关于鉴于所发生的事情，“医疗力量”的问题。