Awareness and Attitudes Regarding Prenatal Sex Determination, Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act (PCPNDTA) among Pregnant Women in Southern India.

Abstract

The present study was conducted to assess the awareness and attitude regarding prenatal sex determination and Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic techniques Act among pregnant women. A cross sectional study was carried at tertiary care teaching hospitals of Kasturba Medical College in Mangalore, India among 132 pregnant women. Data was collected using a pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire and was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences(SPSS) version 11.5 and results were expressed in percentages. The study included 132 participants and the mean age of study subjects was around 27 y. Majority of the study subjects (91.7%) knew that prenatal sex determination was possible. Three fourth (74.4%) of the participants prenatal sex determination was a punishable offence. One of the participants was ready to terminate pregnancy if sex of the fetus was revealed to be female before second trimester. Majority of participants (67.4%) were willing to educate people about PCPNDT act and motivate them against sex determination and sex selective abortions. Our study showed that higher proportion of participants knew about the prenatal sex determination and it was a punishable offence, still majority of them preferred to know the sex of unborn child which shows the need to implement the act effectively.