India bans female feticide

Abstract

About 70% of all abortions performed in Delhi, India, are terminations due to the fetus being female. Private clinics make a profit out of offering sex determination tests. The new bill (the Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques Bill) introduced in Lok Sabha by Deputy Health Minister Pawan Singh Ghatowatr would stop "sex determination shops" from helping parents and medical practitioners terminate female pregnancies. Prenatal diagnostic tests would be administered only to detect genetic and congenital abnormalities. Physicians would not be allowed to reveal the sex of the fetus unless it was linked to a sex disorder. Women's rights groups have campaigned for such a bill that forbids prenatal sex determination. Abortions based on the sex of the fetus are currently banned under Article 14 and 15 of the Indian Constitution as a violation of women's rights. The new bill would punish doctors who offer to identify the sex of the fetus by taking their names off the official medical register and imprisoning them for 3 years and fining them 10,000 rupees or 200 pounds. Pregnant women who undergo tests would also be punished with the same fine and prison term. Dr. Geeta Dwivedi, a medical physician with the Lucknow branch of the India Family Planning Association, reported that few tests are conducted for the sake of the health and well-being of the fetus. Female feticide is practiced because girls are viewed as an economic burden due to dowry practices and male children are valued for old age support and carrying on the family trade. The sex ratio in India is 927 women to 1000 men. The problem with the new legislation is enforcement, which would require oversight of as many as 2000 clinics in Delhi alone. It is anticipated that clinics would be uncooperative in complying with such a law because their self-interest is at stake.