PRENATAL DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES

SOCIOLOGY PROJECT

Guided By:

Mr. Laxmipati Raju

SUBMITTED BY

Rashmi Maruvada

2018072

I SEMESTER
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I have taken efforts in this project. However, it would not have been possible without the kind
support and help of many individuals and organizations. I would like to extend my sincere thanks
to all of them.

I am highly indebted to Mr. Laxmipati Raju for their guidance and constant supervision as
well as for providing necessary information regarding the project & also for their support in
completing the project.

I would like to express my gratitude towards my parents & member of organization for their kind
co-operation and encouragement which help me in completion of this project.
I would like to express my special gratitude and thanks to the Judges, Magistrate, and court room
officer for giving me such attention and time.
My thanks and appreciations also go to my colleague in developing the project and people who
have willingly helped me out with their abilities.
TABLE OF CONTENT:

SL.NO TITLE PAGE NO.

1. ABSTRACT 4
2. OBJECT OF STUDY 5
2.1 SCOPE OF STUDY 5
2.2 SOURCE OF INFORMATION 5
2.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 6
2.4 HYPOTHESIS 6

9 CONCLUSION 29
10 BIBLIOGRAPHY 30
 SYNOPSIS

OBJECT OF THE STUDY:

SCOPE OF STUDY:

SOURCE OF INFORMATION:

RESEARCH QUESTIONS:

HYPOTTHESIS:
INTRODUCTION:

Pre-natal testing comprises of prenatal diagnosis and pre-screening, which are parts of prenatal
care that attention on identifying issues with the pregnancy as right on time as would be prudent.
These might be anatomic and physiologic issues with the soundness health of the zygote,
developing embryo, or foetus, either before growth even starts (as in preimplantation hereditary
genetical diagnosis) or as right off the gestation as practicable. Screening can recognize issues,
for example, neural defects, chromosomal irregularities, mutations in gene that would prompt
hereditary issues and birth defects, for example, spina bifida, Downs Syndrome, Tay–Sachs
infection, sickle cell anemia, thalassemia, cystic fibrosis and fragile X disorder. A few tests are
intended to find issues which essentially influence the strength of the mother, for example,
PAPP-A to identify pre-eclampsia or glucose tolerance tests to analyze gestational diabetes.
Screening can likewise detect anatomical defects, for example, hydrocephalus, anencephaly,
heart deformities, and amniotic band disorder.

Pre-birth screening centers around discovering issues among a huge populace with moderate and
noninvasive techniques. Pre-natal diagnosis centers around seeking after extra detailed
information data once a specific issue has been found, and can sometimes more invasive. The
most widely recognized screening methodology are normal ultrasounds, blood tests, and blood
pressure estimation. Common diagnosis methodology incorporate amniocentesis and chorionic
villus testing. Now and again, the tests are controlled to decide whether the foetus will be
prematurely ended( abortion), however doctors and patients likewise think that its helpful to
analyze high-hazard pregnancies early so that delivery can be planned for a tertiary consideration
emergency clinic where the infant can get suitable care.

Reasons for prenatal screening and diagnosis

There are 3 moivations purposes behind pre-natal diagnosis.

They are-

1. to empower and enable timely medical or careful surgical treatment of a condition previously
or after birth,
2. to allow the parents to abort a fetus with the analysed, diagnosed condition, and

3. to give parents the chance to "prepare" mentally, socially, monetarily, and therapeutically for a
child with a medical issue or incapacity, or for the probability of a stillbirth.

Having this data in advance of the birth implies that healthcare staff and as well as parents can all
the more likely set themselves up for the delivery of a baby with a medical issue. For instance,
Do Syndrome is related with cardiovqascular imperfections that may require intervention quickly
upon birth.

Many parents might want to know the sex of their infant before birth. Strategies incorporate cell-
fetal DNA analysis, amniocentesis with karyotyping, and prenatal ultrasound. In certain nations,
health services providers are relied upon to retain this data from parents, while in different
nations they are required to give this data.

PROS AND CONS

Although a considerable lot of these choices for pre-natal analysis are being utilized and profited
by agreeable couples wishing to have sound and healthy children, rivals of these heriditary tests
are not surrendering without a battle. They raise numerous concerns and issues that must be dealt
with if we are to develop in the genetical science.

Numerous rivals trust in the preservation of all life, and until we come up with cures to all
genetical diseases, ending the lives of inflicted fetuses will stay common in our general public.
Other than the way that taking out an individual that can't be cured violates the standards of
medication, pre-natal analysis joined with the alternative of ending the pregnancy raises two
additional issues: specific reproducing, or genetic counseling, and worth decisions.

The main, eugenics, may incorporate utilizing abortions as a methods for killing a disease and
eliminating of a whole population that did not fit into society’s criteria for a perfect community.
Likewise, specific physical attributes, for example, eye color and IQ, will in the long run be
possible. Will we, as a general public, rise into a supremacy in which those with awful bad genes
can be scorned.
A second issue that may should be addressed includes esteem value judgements. Pre-natal tests
are being utilized to an ever increasing extent. Parents are prematurely ending i.e. aborting a
child dependent on any sign of a birth deformity, regardless of what the seriousness. The
Institute of Medicine suggests that pre-birth analysis not be utilized for minor conditions or
attributes. Be that as it may, who chooses what a minor condition is? Various perspectives rely
upon the couple's race, culture, training, religious convictions, and monetary status. The choice
will likewise rely upon what data about the variation from the norm is exhibited to them and how
they translate the information.

Without a doubt, these issues address the requirement for moral and lawful measures. A parental
campaign for the perfect infant is well on its way. While we should maintain the opportunity of
decision, we should choose what is best for society all in all.

While there are rivals to the utilization of these tests, more individuals are supportive of them.
Pre-natal testing and particular selective abortion to maintain a strategic distance from a truly
hereditarily impeded kid is broadly acknowledged in the United States. It was resolved that 79%
of Americans believe abortion ought to be accessible for a baby with an extreme abnormality.
Some accept that the birth of a child with an extreme hereditary issue may bring the mother and
additionally family trouble, mental mischief, passionate damage and enduring, loss of a kid, loss
of chances, loss of opportunity, segregation, and budgetary costs.

An extra potential risk that could introduce itself with the birth of a defective child might be the
nature of the relationship among parents and the kid. For example, a kid might be subjected to
exercises that don't really profit the kid in view of the parents absence of preparation for
managing the kid. Additionally, the kid's personal freedom might be limited or his/her condition
may prompt fragile treatment.

The discrimination in the society likewise makes bringing up a child considerably more
troublesome, not just for those really having a hereditary infection, yet additionally for people
who have an inclination to one. The later refers to late beginning issue in which the individual
might be symptomless until some other time in his/her life. There has just been more than 200
detailed cases of hereditary separation including medical insurance, business, and adoption. A
key component that must be recollected, in any case, is that since we may have the gene for a
disease doesn't mean we will get the sickness. Numerous other physical and ecological variables
add to the advancement of the ailment.

As per Francis Collins, Director of The National Center for Human Genome Research, we all
convey likely 4 or 5 truly fouled up genes and another couple of dozen that are not very good
and place us in danger for something. On the off chance that this is valid, everybody is
hereditarily disabled and could be dependent upon discrimination.

Ethical and practical issues related to pre-natal diagnostic techniques

 How to guarantee that data about testing choices is given in a non-directive, culturally
proper and supportive way.
 Parents need to settle on informed choices about screening, diagnosis, and any moves to
be made subsequently. Many screening tests are not accurate, so one troubling test
outcome much of the time prompts extra, increasingly invasive tests. On the off chance
that pre-natal testing affirms a genuine incapacity, numerous parents are compelled to
choose whether to proceed with the pregnancy or look for a feotus removal. The "choice"
of screening turns into a sudden prerequisite to choose.
 Are the dangers of pre-natal diagnosis through techniques, for example, amniocentesis
worth the potential advantage?
 Rarely, fetal interviation corrective systems are conceivable, for uncommon birth defects,
for example, spina bifida and teratoma before birth may give the alternative of fetal
medical procedure during pregnancy, or guarantee that the suitable treatment as well as
medical procedure be given following birth.
 Questions about the characteristic estimation of individuals with incapacities in the
society, and inquiries regarding whether it is suitable to utilize eugenics like
arrangements that diminish the quantity of children brought into the world with
handicaps.

CONCERNS FROM DISABILITY RIGHTS ACTIVISTS AND SCHOLARS

Disability rights activists and researchers have proposed an increasingly basic perspective on
pre-natal testing and its suggestions for individuals with handicaps i.e. disabilities. They contend
that there is strain to abort babies that may be born with handicaps, and that these pressures
depend on genetic counseling interests and ableist generalizations (stereotypes). This specific
abortion depends on the thoughts that individuals with handicaps can't live desirable lives, that
they are "faulty or defective" and that they are burdens, disregarding the way that incapacity
researchers contend that "persecution is what's most disabling about inability." Marsha Saxton
proposes that ladies should address whether they are depending on genuine, factual verifiable
information about individuals with handicaps(disabilities) or on stereotypes on the off chance
that they choose to abort a foetus with an incapacity.

MISUSE OF PRE-NATAL DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES

During 1800, the British Government found that there were no girls (daughters) in a village in
the Eastern Uttar Pradesh. As indicated by the 2001 Census, there were under less than 93 ladies
for each 100 men in the Indian populace. The overall idea that the birth of a female child can flag
(signal) the beginning of financial ruin and extreme hardship for a poor Indian family is
reasonable. Even high-income families dont need a female child. The Government of India in its
tenth Plan perceived the privileges of the female child to rise to the equal oppurtunity, to be free
from hunger, illiteracy, numbness and abuse. In the National Policy for the Empowerment of
Women 2001, a strategy (policy) structure was set down for the disposal of discrimination, and
infringement of the rights of the female child. In any case, the circumstance keeps on becoming
worse, and studies have uncovered that sex-selected abortions are practised among all
communities despite of enactment of laws prohibiting pre-natal sex determination i.e. assurance.

FEMALE FOETICIDE IN INDIA :

This female foeticide started in the mid 1990s when ultrasound procedures increased far reaching
use in India. There was an inclination for families to ceaselessly produce children until a male
kid was conceived. Foetal sex determination, selective abortion by medical experts has today
developed into a Rs. 1,000 crore industry (US$ 244 million). Social discrimination against ladies
and preference for male baby have advanced female foeticide in different structures slanting the
sex ratio of the nation towards men. As indicated by the decennial Indian census, the sex ratio in
the 0–6 age group in India went from 104 males per 100 females in 1981, to 105.8 in 1991, to
107.8 in 2001, to 109.4 in 2011. The ratio is essentially higher in specific states, for example,
Punjab and Haryana (126.1 and 122.0, starting at 2001).

CAUSES OF FEMAL FOETICIDE:

•Historically there were a larger number of females than males in many nations of the world.
This wonders happened because of two reasons:

(i) Girl children would have better immune system in comparision of male kid.

(ii) Females live longer than gents in the vast majority of the societies.

The ratio between female infants and male infants is about 1050 female to 1000 male.

In India the sex ratio is declining essentially and consistently for over a century. From 972
female for every thousand males at the turn of twentieth century the sex ratio declined to 933 at
the turn of 21st century.

The state level kid sex ratio is disturbing. Many as the 6 states and the union territories have a
child sex ratio as low child sex ratio of 793. The most elevated (highest) sex ratio of children is
986 which is found in Sikkim.

Sex proportion is by all accounts declining in nations like India, China and South Korea.

In India, parents still prefer male child. This is basically due to social and cultural reasons. Being
agricultural society the village population preferred male child to look after the land. The reason
of preference of male child is definitely not linked with economic reasons. The states like
Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Chandigarh and Maharashtra are most prosperous states of India and
should have highest child sex ratio, but things are just different.
The census of 2001 reveals that these are states with the lowest sex ratios i.e., 950 female babies
per 1000 male babies. This data is a reliable evidence that selective abortion in these states is not
due to poverty, ignorance or lack of resource.
In India, the parents still incline toward (prefer) male kids. This is fundamentally because of
social, cultural reasons. India being agriculture society the village populace always favor male
childd to care for and look after the agriculture and land. The explanation of inclination of male
child is certainly not connected with monetary reasons. The states like Maharastra, Delhi,
Chandigarh, Haryana and Punjab are most prosperous states of the India and ought to have most
elevated and highest child sex proportion(ratio), yet things are simply different. The 2001 census
uncovers that these are states with the least sex ratos then i.e., 950 female children for each 1000
male infants. This information is a solid proof that particular selective abortion in these states
isn't because of poverty or ignorance.

Inclining factors for low youngster sex proportion in India:

1. Religious or Cultural Beliefs: The belief that only male child is qualified to perform the
funeral and related ceremonies of his parents.

2. Monetary Reasons: The principle occupation of Indian culture is farming. Village people
have a reasoning that landed property can't be given to young ladies in light of the fact
that after marriage they will go to another village, town or city. Neither girl child can get
a share nor she can deal with the land.

3. Lack of Awareness: People in Indian culture having uninformed protection frame of mind
are as yet not prepared to give equivalent status to girl since they imagine that during
mature age they will be dependent on the son. Just he will share food, house, traditions,
and mainly responsibilities.

IMPACT OF THE MISUSE OF PRE-NATAL DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES:

Slanted sex proportion for guys has involved worry since the first census held in India is 1871.2
The sex proportion during childbirth in many nations shows that there are marginally a larger
number of boys than girls, 1,000 boy childs to 952 girl childs; among grown-ups, it is required to
be near 1:1. The information from the Census of India, which is held like every 10 years, are not
on new born infants however on more old people. Except if generally demonstrated, we have
utilized the meaning of sex ratio as communicated in the Census of India, specifically, the
number of females per 1,000 males. The subject of declining sex proportion in India was broadly
detailed in the media during the 1990s after the census of 1991. In the 10 years following the
census of 2001, the subject again got consideration in the media, in universal journals, and in
books. The Census of India 2011 has demonstrated that the sex proportion in India in the age
group of 0–6 years keeps on continue at an alarming rate. The issue is currently generally
revealed in the media and on the web. Documentaries on the Indian TV, in the United States and
around the world, and campaigns to save the girl child have caused to notice this issue.
Evaluations of the quantity of missing girls overall differ from 100 to 200 million.

FEMALE INFANTICIDE AND EXCESS OF INFANT MORTALITY AMONG GIRLS

The general sex proportion in India went down from 972 in 1901 to 930 in 1971. This decrease
in the number of girl childs until the 1970s was credited essentially to two causes: abundance
child mortality of female infanticide and girls, the two of which apply for the most part of the
girls born to moms with at any rate one enduring daughter. Mortality among young ladies is 1.5-
2 times higher than that for young men beneath the age of 4 years and 1.3 times higher than that
for boys below the age of 1 year. This is attributed to malnutrition, negligence and hardship of
medical care. Female child murder has been a developing issue in India.

In 1795, child murder(infanticide) was made culpable in the North-West territories and a law
against child murder, the Infanticide Regulation Act, was passed in 1870. Since the freedom of
India in 1947, female infanticide has likewise been accounted for in a southern state, Tamil
Nadu. Certain people group(communities) and castes are progressively inclined to female
infanticide, however the custom has spread out from the center areas. It has now been accounted
for in many states straight up to Bihar and Orissa in the east and Kerala in the south. The
different techniques utilized for female infanticide, which are specific in region, frequently
ritualized, and enjoy social acceptance, are well documented. Until the appearance of PD, female
child murder was the most generally utilized strategy for the end of girls in country rural zones.

IMPACT OF PD

In spite of the fact that the general sex ratio in 1971 was 930, it was <900 in huge numbers of the
north-western states and near or >1,000 in the south-eastern states. This harsh north-south line
separates India likewise by culture and language. In the north, Indo-European dialects are
spoken, and the general public is patriarchal, though Dravidian dialects are spoken in the south,
and the general public is progressively matriarchal. By the by, as referenced above, female
infanticide had spread over this north-south line.

The coming of PD during the 1970s brought a significant change. From that point forward, the
combination of pre-natal selective abortion and sex determination has been generally utilized for
the precise end of females.

PD wound up accessible soon after foetus abortion was sanctioned in 1971. PD was presented in
India as a technique for recognizing foetal variations and abnormalities from the norm however
was before long utilized for pre-natal sex selection. The Indian medicinal profession effectively
advanced it for this purpose. Prenatal sex selection was viewed as an answer for various issues: it
would satisfy the craving of families for a son, bring about more joyful relationships, and make
the life of ladies simpler; it would stop female infanticide, it would stop ladies over and over
repeatedly reproducing till they had a child and was viewed as a significant part of India's
populace control program.

First amniocentesis during the 1970s and later chorionic villus examining during the 1980s were
straight forwardly promoted and widely utilized in urban zones for sex-selective abortions. The
impact turned out to be soon obvious. Probably the most punctual investigation on the
consequence of amniocentesis was done over a year time frame, 1976–1977, in a urban clinic;
96% of the girls (430/450) were prematurely aborted, though every one of the 250 boys, even
with the danger of a genetic deformity, were born. Results from a fetus removal (abortion) center
in Mumbai indicated that practically 100% of the 15,914 abortions are completed after sex
determination during 1984–1985 were of females. Another investigation of 6 city emergency
clinics in Mumbai revealed in 1988 found that 7,999 of the 8,000 aborted embryos were girls.
Amniocentesis and chorionic villus examining require qualified medicinal and research facility
staff and costly hardware and were, accordingly, accessible generally to the prosperous and the
well-educated part regarding the populace in the urban communities.

In the mid 1980s, the ultrasound technique, which is non-invasive and cheap was introduced.
Inside a couple of years, a huge number of ultrasound scanners were createdby producers of
therapeutic equipment and sold all through India, with an unbalanced number in north west
India, to medical professions and perhaps at the same time to quacks. Equipped with such a
compact and portable machine and a base minimum methods for transport, medicinal experts had
the option to reach even the remotest villages in India, villages with no power or running water.
Ultrasound was publicized on a great many boards all through India with "pay 500 rupees now
[US$ 14] as opposed to five lakhs [Rs 500,000 or US$ 14,000] later". This was to urge
individuals to prematurely end female embryos and save money on a future dowry. Some Indian
ladies accept that the primary reason for creating ultrasound machines was for foetal sex
selection. With the broad utilization of ultrasound, particular female foeticide spread through the
social and financial layers, from the urban areas to the villages, just as geologically all through
India, from the north-west towards the east and even towards the south.

Two previously established inclination strategies became accessible during the 1980s and 1990s.
Different X and Y sperm partition techniques, especially the microsort strategy, which increase
the possibility of a male child, have been utilized by couples who incline toward preselection of
sperm to sex-selective feotus removal(abortion). The microsort strategy gives 90% purity of X or
Y sperm. At the point when preimplantation genetic diagnosis, which is profoundly obtrusive
and costly, wound up accessible, it was publicized and offered as a more moral strategy than
selective abortion till mid-2003 when it was prohibited by the Indian Supreme Court. Neither of
these two techniques has contributed a lot to the decrease in sex proportion and ratio, however
we notice them to demonstrate that each accessible strategy to prevent the birth of a girl has been
utilized.

Location of a male embryo from without cell fetal DNA in maternal blood became conceivable
in the mid-2000s. Organizations in the United States have been giving DNA kits to home use,
which have been openly accessible and broadly utilized in the north-western states of Punjab and
Haryana since 2006. Blood from a finger prick from the pregnant lady in the seventh week of
pregnancy could be sent to a research center in the United States by post, and the outcome was
known in 10 days. Lately in recent days, different methodologies for noninvasive pre-natal
testing, which give results early in pregnancy, have been created and developed. The utilization
of these procedures for detecing basic aneuploidies has been reviewed. The utilization of
noninvasive pre-natal testing for hereditary analysis in India would fall under the PCPNDT Act.
With regards to sex selection, illegal utilization of noninvasive pre-natal testing would need to
rival the effectively accessible ultrasound innovation. Notwithstanding, one can expect the
improvement of unlawful home-use kits later on in the nature.

In 1975, medical specialists had asserted that particular selective abortions of female embryos
would not influence the sex ratio. However, the results of the 1981 census previously
demonstrated slanting of the sex ratio among kids, and there were worries about the sex
imbalance in the population. Concerns were additionally raised after the registration of
1991,3,4,5 and a law forbidding the utilization of pre-natal innovations for sex selection, the Pre-
Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT) Act, was passed in 1994, which became effective in 1996.
As per this law, hereditary genetic laboratories may not legitimately or in a roundabout way
uncover the sex of the baby, with the exception of in instances of sex-connected sicknesses.

The individuals who might not have contemplated over infanticide are utilizing selective female
feticide, though female infanticide is as yet practiced in rural regions by families who either have
no access to or can't manage the cost of the pre-natal tests. It likewise creates the impression that
female infanticide is making a rebound since the lawful confinement on pre-natal sex selection.
It is hard to discover data on the quantity of female infanticides every year as the communities
and villages where it happens are shrouded about it. However, the accompanying evaluations
should give some thought of the degree of the issue. In a district in Bihar, there were 1,000
female infanticides for each year. In 1995, birthing specialists met in Bihar admitted to
slaughtering approximately 50% of the girls they delivered. In 2005, it was accounted for that in
Kerala alone, approximately 25,000 female child murders happened in a year. Altogether, these
evaluations are great.

POLICIES AND LAWS INTRODUCED BY GOVERNMENT AND NGO’S:

The MTP Act 1972 and PNDT Act 1994 are firmly connected. A law, which was basically
passed to curb illicit fetus removal (abortion), has wound up being abused and doing precisely
the inverse. Ladies experiencing (SSA) are destined to endeavor second trimester abortion.
India's second trimester premature birth rate is along these lines expanding and is most
noteworthy on the planet. Unlawful and dangerous abortions record for an expected 6.7 million
abortions for every year performed by untrained people in unhygienic conditions. This "double
illegality" has extreme consequences for ladies. The Indian Medical Association evaluated that
50,00,000 female babies were aborted every year absolutely because the children conceived
would be of an inappropriate sex. Along these lines there was a double plan of advancing safe
premature births and dis-allowing SSA.

Different Non-Governmental Organizations working for the welfare and upliftment of ladies
raised their heads against such a maltreatment. The Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation
and Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1994 renamed after change as "The Pre-conception and Pre-natal
Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act" alluded to as PNDT Act in this way
came into force.

PRE-NATAL DIAGNOSIS TECHNIQUES ACT

The law was additionally corrected in 2003 to incorporate previously established inclination sex-
selection strategies, guideline of clearance of ultrasound machines, and progressively stringent
punishments for breaking the law. It was presently called the Pre-conception and Pre-Natal
Diagnostic Techniques Act (PCPNDT Act). Nevertheless, end of females utilizing these
strategies has proceeded with unabated during the previous 40 years. Although selective
foeticide concerns just 2–4% of pregnancies conveying a girl, the numbers are extremely huge in
total terms. Estimates of the quantity of girls absent because of selective foeticide extend from a
quarter to a half of a million every year. Female feticide was considered as a progressively
satisfactory option in contrast to female child murder, however it didn't generally supplant
female infanticide.

Objectives:
The principle reason for establishing the Act is to ban the utilization of sex selection methods
after conception and avert the misuse of pre-natal diagnostic procedure for abortions of sex
selection.

SALIENT FEATURES

Offenses under this demonstration incorporate leading or aiding in the conduct of pre-natal
diagnostic procedure in the unregistered units, sex determination on a man or lady, directing
PND test for any reason other than the one referenced in the demonstration, sale, distribution,
supply, leasing and so forth of any ultra sound machine or some other equipment capable for
recognizing sex of the foetus. Fundamental arrangements in the demonstration are.

1. The Act prohibits sex selection, before or after conception.

2. It controls the utilization of pre-natal diagnostic techniques, similar to ultrasound and

amniocentesis by permitting them their utilization just to recognize :
1. Metabolic disorders
2. genetic abnormalities
3. chromosomal abnormalities
4. haemoglobinopathies
5. certain congenital malformations
6. sex linked disorders.

3. No laboratory or clinic will conduct any test including ultrasonography to determine the
sex of the foetus.

4. No individual, including the person who is directing the technique according to the law,
will communicate the sex of the baby to the pregnant lady or her family members by
words, signs or some other strategy.
 5. Any individual who puts a notice for pre-natal and pre-conception sex determination
facilities as a notice, circular, label, wrapper or any document, or publicizes through
interior or other media in electronic or print structure or participates in any obvious
visible representation made by methods for storing, wall painting, signal, light, sound,
smoke or gas, can be imprisoned for as long as three years and fined Rs. 10,000.

COMPULSORY REGISTRATION

The Act mandates compulsory enrollment of every diagnostic labs, all genetic counselling
centers, genetic laboratories, genetic clinics and ultrasound facilities clinics.

AMENDMENT IN 2003

Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1994 (PNDT), was
altered i.e. amended in 2003 to The Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques
(Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act (PCPNDT Act) to improve the guideline of the innovatio in
sex selection.

IMPLICATIONS OF THE AMENDMENT

1. Bringing ultrasound within its ambit

2. Engaging the central supervisory board, constitution of state level supervisory board

3. Arrangement for more stringent punishments

4. Engaging appropriate authorities with the power of civil court for search, seizure and
sealing the machines and equipments of the violators
 5. Controlling the sale of the ultrasound machines just to registered bodies or institutions.

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION:

The misuse of pre-natal diagnostic techniques in countries like India has led to rampant killing of
girl child for want of a son. Thus, there is a decline in sex ratio. Apart from the available laws the
common people and NGO’s can also contribute to reduce female foeticide.

1. Awareness should be created in rural areas about the rights of women and also the future
consequences of female foeticide so that people value the girl child rather than killing
her. Awareness should be created so that people use the modern techniques in a proper
way and not for sex selective abortion.
2. NGO’s can play an important role by creating awareness and keeping a check on the
nearby areas.
3. Strict punishments should be given to the families and doctors who involve in sex
selective abortions. The police and government should be vigilant enough so that people
should not go for these illegal abortion at all.
4. The government should introduce special incentives for the parents who do not involve in
sex selective abortions. This will act as a positive reinforcement for the people and later
on it would change their attitude towards girl child.