Female feticide in the view of fertile females- A study among suburban pregnant women of Gujarat, India.

Abstract

Background: Sex selective abortion and Female feticide are growing problems across the world, especially among third world countries like India. Level of awareness and views regarding preventing the same must also be considered among those who are pregnant, before expecting a social change “favourable” to the “girl child”. Aims & Objective: To study the attitudes and awareness towards issues of female feticide among suburban pregnant women. Materials and Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted on antenatal women of the community of Saijpur ward attending government antenatal clinics of the area. A sample of 200 pregnant women was interviewed using pre-tested Performa taking their consent. Institutional ethical consent was obtained beforehand and the data were analyzed. Results: Out of all 31.5% and 14.5% preferred to have a male and female child, respectively as their current pregnancy outcome. Less than half (43.5%, n=87) of the respondents were aware about the term “Female feticide” in local language. Most of them (n=183, 91.5%) were aware of the term “Pre-natal sex determination” in their local language. None of the graduate respondents would have liked to go for abortion, had the fetus sex been determined beforehand. Conclusion: Socio-demographic factors play a role in women’s awareness for female feticide. Education forms a critical role for her attitudes towards “female feticide”. Television and Health-care providers proved to be better sources for awareness generation than others did.