Two siblings were arrested in Guangzhou on July 8 for using a portable ultrasound machine to unlawfully identify the sex of unborn babies, according to reports.
The brother-sister pair ran their tummy-scanning operation out of an “unremarkable-looking van” and sold their services to expecting couples for RMB300-500.
Identifying a fetus’s sex and sex-selective abortions are illegal in China, as laid out in a regulation by the National Health and Family Planning Commission to help alleviate the country’s gender disparity.
The media was alerted to the siblings' business by a local identified in reports as Wang, who stated that at least seven women had had abortions after visiting the van to find out their babies' gender.
Following up on Wang’s tip, an undercover reporter from a local news website and a prenatal volunteer made an appointment with the duo.
When the van picked them up, it was driven by a man, with a woman in the back operating an ultrasound machine that resembled a “large laptop,” according to the volunteer.
It took only two minutes for the woman to reveal the gender of the volunteer’s fetus, and she reportedly stated she had been conducting prenatal ultrasound scans for 17 years.
The brother and sister team were arrested last Saturday and their vehicle and equipment were confiscated by authorities. If found guilty, the pair could face a RMB30,000 fine and the seizure of their illicit earnings.
[Image via Baby Center Canada]
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