eCatalyst February 2007

“ALLOW ME TO BE BORN

OR AM I BORN TO DIE?”

Shreya Sircar

Son preference is one of the most evident manifestations of sex discrimination in our society. Sex selection has become a rampant phenomenon and the techniques used for this purpose are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Advanced medical science and technology has made elimination of female babies, an invisible deed. The earlier, more crude and visible methods of eliminating females-choking infants on rice husks, female fetuses dumped in garbage bins, strangulated in hot water tubs etc. Now selection of sperms-carrying Y chromosomes, help conceive a male child.

Is sex selection and selective elimination a breach of HUMAN RIGHTS TO EQUALITY AND EXISTENCE OF THE FEMALE?

BIHAR, INDIA 1997:-

"Ward rounds in a hospital in the small town of Mokama- I am examining a young woman, who has delivered her second baby the previous night. I tell the mother that her baby is healthy and beautiful. She turns away, sullen and silent. “Its girl” says the nurse.

KODAGU,INDIA 2003:-

"the couple sitting opposite me in the clinic are young and wealthy. She is three months into her third pregnancy and wants to know the sex of the unborn child. Their two bright-eyed daughters are playing outside. I explain that it is against the law. “The numbers of girls in our country is dwindling. Girls can be successful too!” The husband's patience begins to wear thin. They leave my clinic with a frown. I find out later that the woman "miscarried" in Bangalore. Yet again, a doctor careless of the law, and one more added to the list of unborn girls now numbering MILLIONS!

Are liberal abortion laws responsible for Female Feticide? When the State by default or intent encourages the use of abortion to restrict the no. of children then such laws can be flouted or misused to have a child of the preferred gender. The intention of the law makers was quite different. the PNDT act 1994, was passed which LEGALLY allows only registered genetic centers, labs, or clinics to carry out pre-natal diagnostic tests. Section 3 of the act attaches two conditions to it- that the female undergoing this test should be:-

1)35 years of age or more

2) Family history of mentally and physically retarded.

3) History of 2 or 3 abortions

4) Exposed to drugs, radiations etc.

These tests are allowed to be undertaken in order to reveal any GENETIC ABNORMALITIES in the fetus and not meant to determine its sex. Surveys conducted at various clinics where sex determination tests are carried out showed that women and their families were completely unaware that pre-natal tests can be used to detect genetic abnormalities.

The alarming Sex-Ratio is an eye opener, which stands at 927 girls per 1000 boys. Bangalore records 940/1000, Delhi 814/1000.....10 MILLION female foetuses have been aborted in India in the past two decades!

There are 101 million "MISSING WOMEN" in the world and 93 million are shared between INDIA and CHINA.

The world's largest minority is an endangered species, thanks to one of the most privileged and influential group: DOCTORS! 

Doctors simply put up a notice board that sex determination is banned and then continue to do so. Mobile sex-selection clinics have made tests possible even in the remotest villages, costing as little as Rs.500/-, thereby making Female Feticide a money spinner for doctors, rather a fast expanding Lucrative Business. This leads to the most technically sound and morally corrupt, world’s largest holocaust!

Such a "GENDER CLEANSING" drive has given birth to dangerous demographic trend with a declining fertility and mortality rate. In turn has leading to the devaluation of the Indian Women

The lawmakers could not have envisaged that the use of technology along with the loopholes in the act, would result in a grave social crisis. Our regressive patriarchal mindset, which encourages the practice of Dowry and Male Inheritance, is to be blamed! unfortunately, its the wealthy and educated who resort to sex-selected abortions....such is a society we live in and boast about. Education, Modernity and Affluence have failed to favor the GIRL CHILD.

WHY SHOULD A FEMALE BE AN ENDANGERED SPECIES RIGHT FROM CONCEPTION TO LIFE?

IS SHE ONLY DESTINED TO BE DUMPED INTO A GARBAGE BIN OR SUFFER TILL THE TIME SHE RESTS IN HER GRAVE?