FEMALE FETICIDE: Is India still the worst place for girls to be born

 

Whenever we talk about female foeticide, it is only a part of the social evils that most of the women in our society have to face even today.

Female foeticide is a latest trend of long established gender bias. Yes, it is a different matter that with time we have become civilized and killing a girl child in the womb has also become civilized. The presence of low-cost technologies such as ultrasound has promoted to sex-selective abortion of female fetuses, reducing the percentage of girls born every year. Nearly 10 million female fetuses have been aborted in the country over the past two decades.

It is indeed a heinous crime to abort a perfectly healthy female foetus after about 18 week or more of gestation. But the same foetus would've been allowed to live if they were males.

Do you know, killing a girl child before or after birth adversely affects the sex ratio and also increases social evils?. According to the 2011 census, the child sex ratio in India was 919 females to 1000 males, which declined from 927 females to 1000 males in the previous decade; and India’s Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation projects that this ratio will only worsen in coming decades.

Shortage of girls for marriage, Increase in polyandry, Women Trafficking, Increase in Rape and Assault, population decline, Increasing maternal mortality and ill-health of women are some of the negative consequences of female foeticide; apart from skewed sex ratio.

Even though we are making progress, there is still a section in Indian society, which is in the grip of conservative thoughts and ideologies. Despite knowing the fact that women are life-giving creatures and without them the expansion of society is not possible, most of the people indulge in the evil practice of killing the girl child before it is born. In fact the act of female foeticide prevails more in educated and affluent society.

Abortions and female infanticide are still prevalent in our country, although it is illegal since 1994. Researchers estimate that an estimated 6.8 million fewer female births will be recorded across India by 2030 due to continued use of sex-selective abortion.

What are the reasons for female feticide?

Patriarchal mindset and technology is also a reason for exacerbating female foeticide. Even economic advancement and better physical infrastructure have not been able to bring about a change in people's mindsets.

In our society, a son is considered the bearer of the family name, which he passes on to his son etc. Many Hindu families believe that a person is guaranteed a place in heaven only if his son lights the pyre and disposes of the ashes in the Ganges River.

Economically, boys have always been viewed as the “breadwinners” of the family. They have held the burden of getting a job and providing for their family. However, girls have continually been viewed as an economic burden, especially during marriage.

Illegal abortion of the female foetus is done due to family pressure from in-laws, husband or the woman’s parents, and the reasons for this are preference of son, girls being considered as a burden, poverty, illiteracy, social discrimination against women etc.

Technology has made sex-determination and female feticide easier,

The truth is disheartening, but a truth nonetheless. The technique used to diagnose the condition and sex of the fetus, medically termed 'Amniocentesis', is now primarily conducted for sex determination and the consequent termination of a female fetus.

Moreover, sex selection through In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and other technologies such as Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD), Pre-Implantation Genetic Screening (PGS) and sperm-sorting has emerged as the next challenge towards curbing female infanticide.

Actually, ultrasound machine is used to see whether the fetus is developing properly or not?, or it does not have any disability or terminal disease. In such a situation, it is natural for the doctor to know the gender.

Although it is illegal to reveal the sex of an unborn child, codes are used to tell parents in such a situation. When the report comes in the blue file, it means 'the fetus is a boy' and when it comes in the pink file, 'it means a girl.' Each clinic has its own code.

And if a daughter is not wanted, then her (killing) is also arranged in the same clinic, doctors prescribe some incurable disease or paralysis, in which it is said that the unborn child will die. This is how sex-selection clinics and abortion rackets are flourishing by flouting all the laws.

Female fetuses abortion rate in India,

As per the norms of the United Nations, the male-female ratio in the world is generally 1050 females to 1000 males. But in India this ratio has come down to about 850 per thousand. India has also been placed at 124th position out of 173 countries in the Human Development Survey report. It is true that our country is far behind in comparison to other countries in terms of education, health and gender discrimination.

According to the Population Research Institute (PRI), over 15.8 million female fetuses have been illegally aborted in India due to prenatal sex selection between 1990 and 2018; nearly 550,000 female feticide were recorded in 2018 alone.

About 7,50,000 girls are aborted every year in India. Surprisingly the most affected states are progressive states like Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Gujarat; Where the rate of selective abortion is increasing to about 80%.

While a research by Pew Research Center indicates at least 9 million female feticides in the year 2000-2019. These are scary numbers.

A study published in the Lancet Health global medical journal found that at least 15.6 million abortions are performed each year. The government was consistently reporting about 700,000, but this does not include private abortions or self-administered "at home" chemical abortions.

Several government agencies, including the Ministry of Women and Child Development, have drawn attention to this concern from time to time, but it still exists. One of the visible indicators of this sex-selective elimination is the sex ratio at birth (SRB), or females per one thousand males, for children born in the past five years, the number of abortions in India is 21 times higher than official reports.

Will India ever be able to stop female feticide?,

The Indian government passed laws prohibiting sex-selective abortions as early as 1994, but these laws proved difficult to enforce. The concept of daughters as “more expensive” has been normalized throughout history, with one 1980s advertisement for ultrasound tests even stating, “Pay 5,000 now, save 50,000 later,” in reference to the cost of a dowry. Thousands of illegal sex detection clinics exist throughout the country, and small, portable ultrasound machines further complicate the problem. India’s Ministry of Health and Welfare acknowledges that illegal abortions currently outnumber legal ones.

Despite judgements by the Supreme Court and various High Courts to make the existing law a practical reality, the implementation of the Act has remained a sham.

The legality of Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 allows for abortions where pregnancy carries the risk of grave injury to women’s health, therefore, making Ultrasound machines continued to be widely available throughout the country. In such an environment it is very difficult to enforce a law which seeks to control data that whizzes through informal channels and can exercise discreetly.

All the social taboos of Indian society revolve around women, they not only face inequality but are also denied the right to take birth. The removal of this practice in Indian society is a serious challenge.

So, what does all this mean, is India still the worst place for girls to be born? think once.