• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • 1
    CommentGo Back
 
Female Foeticide
With Reference to Legal SenarioSubmitted by: Pranav Khanna[Student PURC Ludhiana]
Introduction
: Female infanticide has been a common practice in our countrysince centuries. Indian census has always shown a gendered imbalance. Thismarked gap between boys and girls, which has nationwide implications, is theresult of decisions made at the most local level- the family. Sex selective abortionis a fairly recent phenomena but its root can be traced back to the age oldpractice of female infanticide.One of the greatest threats to our contemporary civilization is the menace of skewed sex ratio. The increasing imbalance between men and women is leadingto many crimes such as illegal trafficking of women, sexual assaults, polygamyand dehumanization of society. These acts have been increasing making thisworld unsafe for women. Female foeticide is one of the most nefarious crimes onthis earth; perhaps what is detestable is that the people who commit crimebelong to the educated class. To this menace our ancestral and biased viewabout male child, lack of education, ever increasing population and dowry havebeen good propellants. Some measures and their enforcement have to happenimmediately. The ineffectiveness of the Pre-Natal Diagnostics Techniques(Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act is very much evident. Hence thereneeds to be quick reformation in the attitude of people to look beyond the legacyand transform this world as a better place to live in.
Son maniaIndian society, like most of the societies world over, is patrilineal, patriarchal and patrilocal. According to Manu, a man has to be reborn as a man to attain moksha(redemption). A man cannot attain moksha unless he has a son to light his funeral pyre.Also, it says a woman who gives birth to only daughters may be left in the eleventh year of marriage. Obviously, it shows the gender bias in our male-dominated society.
2
The ageold preference for sons is motivated by economic, religious, social and emotional desiresand norms that favor males and make females less desirable. Parents expect sons—butnot daughters—to provide financial and emotional care, especially in their old age; sonsadd to family wealth and property while daughters drain it through dowries; sonscontinue the family lineage while daughters are married away to another household; sons perform important religious roles; and sons defend or exercise the family’s power while daughters have to be defended and protected, creating a perceived burden on thehousehold.
3
This stereo-type notion of women as “burden” is one of the main reason behind female foeticide and infanticide.What is female foeticide?
 
Female foeticide is a practice that involves the detection of the sex of the unborn baby inthe womb of the mother and the decision to abort it if the sex of the child is detected as agirl. This could be done at the behest of the mother, or father, or both or under family pressure. This detection of the sex of the baby is done through three methods:(a) amniocentesis;(b) chronic villus sampling and(c) ultrasonography.Legislative actions:To arrest this evil, the Forum against Sex Determination and Sex Preselection (FASDSP)a broad forum of feminist and human rights groups, was formed in 1984, and it has beenlobbying for legislation to ban the practice. In 1988, the state of Maharashtra passed anAct banning prenatal diagnostic practices. In September 20, 1994 the Parliament hadenacted the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation & Prevention of Misuse) Act,which came into force from January 1996. Later, the Act was amended with effect fromFebruary 14 2003 and was renamed the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal DiagnosticTechniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994 (PCPNDT Act).Ground reality:The ban on the government hospitals and clinics at the centre and in the states, makinguse of pre-natal sex determination for the purpose of abortion — a penal offence — led tothe commercialization of the technology; private clinics providing sex determination teststhrough amniocentesis multiplied rapidly and widely. These tests are made available inareas that do not even have potable water, with marginal farmers willing to take loans at25 per cent interest to have the test. People are encouraged to abort their female fetusesthrough advertisements in order to save the future cost of dowry. The portable ultrasoundmachine has facilitated doctors to go from house to house in towns and villages.
4
Despitethe law being there, due to lack of proper implementation, very few cases are registered.Under the two main laws (Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act 1971 and thePre Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT) Act 1994, the Indian government has concededthat abortion may be carried out if there is(a) danger to the life of the mother in child birth,(b) if the child is at risk of being born handicapped, or (c) if the women has conceived the child as a result of rape.Women are also allowed the right to abortion if they wish to do so in the interest of keeping the family small. PNDT Act only focuses on regulation and control is techniquesof pre-natal sex determination, not the access to abortion in any form. That is, the Actdoes not concern itself with selective abortion of female fetuses as such, but rather, withmedical procedures to detect the sex of the foetus,which can lead to femicide. However, it is often seen that the decision of abortion istaken after the detection that the unborn child is female, especially if it is the second or third female child. It must be mentioned here that abortion has entered the lexicon of feminist struggle through a very different trajectory from that followed in the West. Here,the ‘right’ to abortion has never been at the centre of much debate since it is seen as ameasure to control population growth.
5
Since poverty is seen as a by -product of rising population, for developing countries like India, population control measures has been a
 
central focus of government programmes for economic development. The MedicalTermination Act was passed in 1971 amidst Parliamentary rhetoric of choice andwomen’s rights, but it was clearly intended as a population measure, as several MPs pointed out during the debate on the Bill.
6
Here, it is worth mentioning that a vocal andinfluential school of thought still justifies the selective abortion of female fetuses as aform of population control. Their argument is that to permit abortion of female fetuseswould stop couples from continuing to have children until the desired son was produced.
Indeed, the statistics are startling. Numerous studies analyzing theskewed sex ratio demonstrate the extent of this shocking practice. Atbirth, thereought to be around 105 or 106 male children for every 100 femalechildren, andthis proportion is about the same everywhere in the world. The ratiothen slowlychanges and women, who are much healthier and more likely tosurvive thanmen, end up outnumbering the men. In places like in Europe and NorthAmerica, the ratio of women to men is typically around 1.05 or 1.06, orhigher.
5
In India, the 2001 census reveals that the overall sex ratio is 933femalesfor every 1000 males, showing a marginal increase of 6 points from the1991census of 927. However, this is a very sorry state indeed and we aredoingmuch worse than over a hundred years ago when the sex ratio was972 in 1901,946 in 1951 till the 933 today. This deterioration in women's positionresultslargely from their unequal sharing in the advantages of medical andsocialprogress.
6
 The child sex ratio is another story altogether. This child sex ratio hasshown a steady decrease since 1961 and shows no signs of improving.Fromthe 976 in 1961, we moved to 964 in 1971. In 1981, we evidenced afurtherdecline to 962 and even further to 945 in 1991. Today the child sexratio is 927,a full 18 points drop. This can only mean one thing. More and morebaby girlshave either been aborted or killed as infants since 1961 and that thistrend
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
prassoon

Female Feticide 342200223 A Mysterious Propaganda @ http://prassoon.sulekha.com/blog/post...

reply01 / 26 / 2010
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...