Stop to selective female abortions
Mumbai (AsiaNews) The Mumbai Municipal Corporation (MMC) is undertaking a large-scale awareness campaign to stop illegal pre-natal diagnostic tests undertaken to find foetal sex that is usually followed by selective female abortion.
The measure follows the recent release of a census report that shows a worrisome trend in female-to-male ratio in newly-born. The latest figures show there are 917 live births of baby girls for every 1000 baby boys; this is down from a 946/1000 ratio in 2001. Worse still, experts warn the trend is likely to continue.
The campaign, which is being conducted by paramedics and volunteers, is targeting the city's 872 registered clinics where amniocentesis tests are performed, more than 300 of which are in the western suburbs.
Dr. GK Khoparde, the MMC's health officer said that following "the preparatory meetings with senior authorities and NGOs, posters and banners were displayed in all municipal dispensaries and clinics deterring medical practitioners from disclosing the sex of the child before birth".
Dr Mishra, medical superintendent at the MMC-run Bhaba Hospital, explained that the two week awareness campaign is intended to convince people not to disclose the sex of the child before birth. "Unfortunately," she said, "the preference for a male heir is ingrained in the psyche of the people and this is dangerous as prior knowledge of the sex of the unborn child could lead to female foeticide."
In 1994 the Union government passed the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act to combat female foeticide. It was amended in 2003 to explicitly ban sex selection before conception.
The law imposed a fine of 10,000 rupees ( 173, US$ 225) and a three-year jail sentence on anyone found guilty of conducting such tests or discriminating against female foetuses and baby girls. To top it, the BMC is urging doctors to inform on their colleagues who fail to respect the law.
For demographer and long time social activist Dr. Malini Karkal, the problem persists even after the female foetus is born. Not only are females singled out for pre-natal selective abortions but they are also victims of post-natal discrimination in terms of feeding, medical care and education.
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10/01/2006
