Vietnam reports one of the highest levels of abortion globally and an increasingly skewed sex ratio at birth. Abortion and related stigmatized behaviours are notoriously difficult to measure, yet understanding women’s ability and willingness to engage in sex selection is of interest to demographers and policymakers alike. We piloted the list experiment, an indirect questioning method, to estimate the prevalence of prenatal sex determination and sex-selective abortion. Respondents reported the total number of items they had engaged in from a list, reducing non-response and incentives to under-report. Among 900 women sampled at two hospitals in Hanoi, we estimated a high prevalence of prenatal sex determination. We found a low prevalence of sex-selective abortion, but higher prevalence among specific parity and children’s sex composition subgroups. Responses to knowledge and attitudinal questions underscored women’s perceived stigma around sex-selective abortion, suggesting the list experiment is a potentially useful tool for studying son preference.

越南报告了全球堕胎率最高的国家之一，出生时的性别比例越来越不平衡。众所周知，堕胎和相关的污名化行为难以衡量，但了解女性参与性别选择的能力和意愿对人口统计学家和政策制定者都很感兴趣。我们试行了列表实验，这是一种间接提问方法，以估计产前性别决定和性别选择性流产的患病率。受访者报告了他们从列表中参与的项目总数，从而减少了不回应和少报的动机。在河内两家医院抽样的 900 名妇女中，我们估计产前性别决定的患病率很高。我们发现性别选择性流产的发生率较低，但在特定胎次和儿童性别构成亚组中的发生率较高。