THE Shanghai Health and Family Planning Commission said yesterday it will crackdown on illegal clinics that tell expectant parents the gender of their unborn babies and provide abortions.

The move is designed to counter the imbalance in the city’s gender ratio at birth caused by migrant families aborting female fetuses.

The high ratio of boys to girls is mainly due to the rising number of migrant workers having babies in Shanghai, as they favor boys and frequently abort female fetuses, the commission said.