Sex-selective abortion is the practice of aborting a fetus after a determination (usually by ultrasound but also rarely by amniocentesis or another procedure) that the fetus is an undesired sex. Sex selective infanticide is the practice of selective infanticide against infants of an undesired sex, again. Sex selective abandonment is the practice of giving away an infant of an undesired sex, for adoption. Parents may also favour one sex over the other, in terms of resources, which could affect survival chances in a time of emergency.

Family sex selection is most common in societies where a large dowry must be paid on marriage. In these societies, families will favour males, as they do not have to pay a dowry on marriage. Some hunter gatherers also practice female infanticide, as males have a higher death rate than females. Male deselection is less common than female deselection, but it would be expected to be seen most amongst poor people and in cultures with bride price.

Sex-selective abortion was rare before the late 20th century because of the difficulty of determining the sex of the fetus before birth, but ultrasound has made it easy. However, prior to this, parents would alter family sex compostion through infanticide. It is believed to be responsible for at least part of the skewed birth statistics in favor of males in mainland China, India, Taiwan, and South Korea. Although the practice is often illegal, laws against it are extremely difficult to enforce because there is often no practical way to determine the parents' true motivation for seeking an abortion. This also makes the issue a difficult one to study as people will never discuss the issue openly with strangers

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