FEMALE FOETICIDE

FEMALE FOETICIDE – A STUDY

AUTHOR – S.SRI ROSHINI
CO AUTHOR – Ms. J. GAYATHRI

ABSTRACT:
The traditional practice of female foeticide has been responsible for the low sex ratio in India.
The old socio-cultural attitude and religious prejudice and encouraged sons preference in various
communities in India. Even though the son’s preference culture is not new, the last few decades
have experienced a crucial and now alarming trend of son preference though the misuse of
prenatal diagnostic techniques. Our constitution provides equal rights for all irrespective of
gender. Discrimination against girl child, gender bias and deep rooted prejudice has led to many
cases of female foeticide in India. There is a progress in science and technology to check birth
disorders in the baby. But many practice sex selective abortions or sex detection because the
baby is a female. Is it not a heinous violation of right to life as the girl child is denied her right to
live? What equality are we talking about? Female foeticide means a deliberate murder of a foetus
after getting it diagnosed. Female foeticide is usually practiced in societies due to the immature
belief that having a girl child is economically and culturally less advantageous than having a boy
child. Seeing all the misery like rape, domestic violence, dowry death etc., many women
themselves do not want to have a girl child as they believe there is a lot of humiliation and
dependence of a girl has to undergo all her life. According to the Indian Medical Association
(IMA) around 5 million female fetuses are aborted each year. There are around 20,000
unregistered clinics excluding the mobile vans, which are available for sex detection. In 1994,
the Pre Natal Diagnostic Technique (Regulation and Misuse) Act was enacted which was later
amended to Pre Conception and Pre Natal Technique Act 2003. The main objective of my study
is to look at the legislative measures on the issue of female foeticide. There needs to be critical
analyses of the laws relating to female foeticide and studying the provisions, lacunas and
loopholes relating to the issue. The study aims to create awareness in communities about the

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laws on female foeticide, which are enacted by the government. The study has aimed to generate
a strong social disapproval of female foeticide by creating an environment where sons and
daughters are equally valued. The study also aims to promote women empowerment and
strengthening the rights of girl child.

KEYWORDS:

Female foeticide , Legislative measures , Sex ratio, Discrimination , Equality

HYPOTHESIS:

NULL HYPOTHESIS -

There is no significant change in the practice of female foeticide during the present.

ALTERNATIVE HYPOTHESIS –

There is a significant change in the practice of female foeticide during the present.

INTRODUCTION:

Foeticide or feticide is an act that causes the death of a fetus. In a legal context, it
refers to the deliberate or incidental killing of a fetus due to a criminal human act, such as a blow
to the abdomen of a pregnant woman. As a medical term, feticide is destruction of a fetus, for
example as the first phase of a legal induced abortion . The latter in some specific situations is
inevitable and legal especially in the incipient phase of pregnancy, it is long debated. But the sex
selective abortion is not at all supportable. ‘Historically, in the absence of genetic testing,
infanticide was the only inhumane option for discarding the female child. This heinous practice
continues today in the southern parts of India where families cannot afford an illegal ultrasound
test. People in Punjab, Haryana and other Western states can afford illegal test to determine the
sex of the baby and discard it’.Let us study in brief about the factors leading and the
measurements to be take by the government to reduce this critical issue.

FACTORS LEADING TO FEMALE FOETICIDE:

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In India female foeticide takes place under various factors such as economic,
socioritual, and technological.

A. ECONOMIC FACTORS:
The female Foeticide in the 21st century have a great deal to do with capitalist
modernity. There are aspects of it lying behind these phenomena.
i) For rural households with landed property there is a clear inverse correlation
between the income level and child sex ratio. It is especially evident in south
India. Again there is gender based wage level. For the same work females are
paid less remuneration. In most cases women enter in the domestic non-paid
services which a patriarchal society gives little or no value at all, so they are
regarded as liability than assets.
ii) Cultural politics of dowry in the Indian society have a lot of answer for this
pernicious phenomenon. Since the turn of century the recorded dowry deaths are
increasing. Nearly 7- 8000 per year brides are murdered for the lack of full
payment of dowry. Nearly 3-5000 brides are committing suicides for dowry.
Brides are thought as commodities and the pre marriage and marriage have been
described as ‘consumption oriented reproductive journey’. When the reproductive
practices make daughters into such economic burden, the threat of having to
amass dowry is motive enough to dispose female commodities​.
iii) The female foeticide has been commodified. It has started to become a field of
accumulation in its own right. Malini Bhattachgarya, the member of the national
commission for women, admitted that in the era of liberalization. Foeticide may
cost one or two month’s earnings, while dowry requires mobilisation of several
years’ income. Hence there appears equilibrium between service seeker and
provider. UNICEF estimates that the turnover of foeticide industry has now
reached 244 million dollar from 77 million dollar in 2006. Those who
disapproved of the practice of sex selective abortions but engaged in it against
their principles expressed their compulsions and helplessness due to pressures
arising out of unhealthy competition in the health care service sector. It was said

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that if they did not provide abortion care services, some others would have
provided them . For these economic reasons females are not desired.

B. SOCIO-RITUAL FACTORS:
Females are vulnerable to brutalities of the male in the forms of physical, mental
and sexual assaults and traumas in the patriarchal societal structure of India. Females are
subjugated, condemned, and deprived in sphere of life. Every parents of a girl child is at
risk for their daughter in this patriarchal society for the mentioned causes. Again for the
funeral ceremonies of the parents, presence of a son is a must. According to Manu, A
man cannot attain moksha (redemption) unless he has a son to light his funeral pyre. In
old age the sons will care for them believably. These socio-rituals factors including
illiteracy and orthodox society norms lead to crave for a male baby, discarding the
females one after another.

C. TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS:
​Female foeticide is a latest trend of long established gender bias. We are civilized
with time and our killing female babes have also been civilized. The presence of low-cost
technologies like ultrasound, have led to sex-based abortion of female fetuses, and an
increasingly smaller percentage of girls born each year.

D. POPULATION POLICY:
Indian family planning policies promote a two-child family and health workers say
this often leads to abortion of female foetuses in efforts to have a "complete family" with
at least one son.

PATTERN OF FEMALE FOETICIDE ACROSS THE STATES:

Female foeticides are common in all states of India irrespective of caste, class,
religion, or north south divide. About 5-7 lakh girls a year or 2000 girls a day go missing
in India due to female foeticide. During 2000, the highest occurances of female foeticides

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are concentrated in Maharashtra (45.1% of India’s total foeticides), followed by the states
of Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh.

THE IMPACT OF FEMALE FOETICIDES:

The immediate impacts of female foeticides the unbalanced sex ratio. The child
sex ratio for the age group of 0-6 years has currently 927 per 1000 boys. Punjab has 798
girls, Haryana 819, Delhi 868 and Gujurat 883 per 1000 boys. It is found that there is a
gradual decline in the sex ratio from 1901 to 1941 due to infanticides and foeticides and
there is a fluctuation in the sex ratio. Here one thing is attracting our attention that though
there is substantial increase in the over all sex ratio in India from 1991-2001, there is
drastic decline in the child sex ratio (CSR). The overall sex ratio increased from 929 to
933 during 1991 and 2001, but the CSR fall from 945 to 927 during that period​.
​This fall in CSR indicates that during the 1991-2001 there may substantial female
foeticide. As the sex CSR declines, in near future overall sex ratio will do the same. This
decline in the sex ratio will badly hamper the social structure and the development
process. This imbalance would have serious repercussions for Indian society in future,
especially on the status of women, leading to increased sexual violence including
prostitutions, trafficking and the reduced mobility of women. Recent reports in local
media said young men in Punjab and Haryana were finding it hard to find brides. Indira
Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Kalpana Chawla all these special names have one thing in
common, “they were all women”. Killing the girl child by making pre-birth investigation
is the social sin destroying the roots of the Indian society. And one will come when the
females will be disappeared from the earth i.e. the human race will also face the
extinction.

REVIEW OF THE MEASURE TAKEN TO COMBAT FEMALE FOETICIDE:

In the modern period of Indian history, there has a no. of measures taken to combat the female
infanticides recently foeticides either as an institutional measures or as an individual
initiatives.

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A. INSTITUTIONAL MEASURES:
1) PNDT (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act-1994: Maharashtra is the first
state in country to ban pre-natal sex determination through the enactment of
Maharashtra regulation of prenatal diagnostics techniques act. Similar efforts at the
national level resulted in the enactment of the Central pre-natal diagnostic techniques
(Regulation and prevention of misuse) Act 1994.The act has two aspects viz.,
regulatory and preventive. It seeks to regulate the use of pre-natal diagnostic
techniques for legal or medical purposes and prevent misuse for illegal purposes. The
act provides for the setting up of various bodies along with their composition powers
and functions. There is a central supervisory board, appropriate authorities and
advisory committees. Violations of the PNDT Act carry a five year jail term and a
fine of about 2,300 U.S. dollars.

2) The Supreme Court of India has issued notices to the Indian government and the
states and union territories on a petition seeking stricter implementation of laws that
ban pre-natal sexselection tests and sex-selective abortions in India. A concerned
Supreme Court observed that the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic
Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act 1994 (PCPNDT) that is meant to
prevent female foeticide in India, has failed. The petition brought to the court's
attention the rampant practice of sex-selective abortions in many parts of the country,
with doctors indiscriminately conducting sex-determination tests and carrying out
abortions because of lax implementation of the PCPNDT Act.

3) UNICEF is committed to protecting every child from violence, exploitation, abuse

and discrimination.

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4) The government would declare January 24, 2010 as the national girl child day with a
focus on targeting the scourges of female foeticide, domestic violence and
malnutrition.

B. INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP APPEALS AND INITIATIVES:

In modern India, there have always been the protests against female infanticides
by various national leaders like Vidyasagar, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, and Mahatma Gandhi
a few names to mention. In the very recent decades, many persons from different walks
of life have protested against the female foeticides.

1) Describing female foeticide as a “disgrace” to society Mrs.Pratibha Patil India's

first women President has called upon the medical fraternity to ensure that
diagnostic tests are not misused for pre-natal gender determination.

2) Mrs.Meira Kumar first women Lok Sabha Speaker said, “Women have great
power hidden within them. Even the Mahatma believed in this and decided to
involve them in the freedom struggle…But today we live in a country where
rampant female foeticide and female infanticide take place. The condition of
women in our country needs attention,

3) Raveena Tandon, an actress who has been associated with numerous NGOs and
social activities was in the Pink City recently to promote a campaign aimed at
saving the girl child.
4) Hindu religious leaders have decided to launch a crusade against female foeticide
in Mathura. Eminent politicians of the BJP and the Sangh Parivar, social workers
and poets are expected to attend the inaugural function scheduled for tomorrow at
the Vatsalya Gram Vrindavan here, Sadhvi Ritambhara, the chief architect of the
crusade. "Female foeticide is a crime and it has nothing to do with the Hindu
religion. The crusade against it would start on December 16, 2008 with the

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congregation of saints, Shankaracharyas and social workers. Eminent politicians

have also been invited for the occasion," Ritambhara said. She claimed consents
of eminent sadhus have been taken for the programmes which will be conducted
as part of the crusade. "Since female foeticide adversely affects the psyche of the
woman on whom the abortion is conducted, the sooner the evil is buried, the
better it would be," she added.

STRATEGIES TO CURB FEMALE FOETICIDE:

INTENSIVE INFORMATION, EDUCATION AND INFORMATION (IEC) FOR

RAISING AWARENESS:

The Government has recently launched a “Save the Girl Child Campaign”. One of
its main objectives is to lessen the preference for a son by highlighting the achievements of
young girls. To achieve the long-term vision, efforts are afloat to create an environment where
sons and daughters are equally valued. Boys need to be educated at an early level with regard to
giving respect and equal regard to girls. The mass media must be involved in promoting a
positive image of women. School and college girls should be the target audience. However, this
should be combined with highlighting the issue and dangers of female feticide and skewed
gender ratio. Analysis of content of information provided regarding abortion and sex
determination showed that the message emphasized upon the illegality of sex-selective abortion
instead of describing the difference between sex-selective abortion and other abortions.[34]
Various Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are already taking an active lead in this area.
It must be emphasized that involvement of community leaders as well as influential persons
would go a long way in assuring success in such campaigns. However, the root causes of gender
bias need to be tackled first and steps towards woman empowerment must be strengthened.

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT:

Education of women is a powerful tool for improving nutrition levels, raising the
age at marriage, acceptance of family planning, improvement in self-image, and their

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empowerment. NGOs may be encouraged to promote formation of self-help groups, organize

non-formal education for adult females and school dropouts, create employment opportunities
for women as well as provide counseling and support services to newly married and pregnant
women to discourage them from undergoing sex-selective abortion.

ROLE OF MEDICAL COLLEGE AND PROFESSIONAL BODIES:

​While many medical practitioners have joined campaigns against the misuse of
these technologies with the support of professional associations, some have been strong
supporters of sex-selective abortion emphasizing that it is the familyís personal decision to
determine the sex of their children. Hence the role of medical colleges and professional bodies
such as Indian Medical Association (IMA), Federation of Obstetric and Gynecological Societies
of India (FOGSI) and association of radiologists, in countering this burning issue needs to be
given due importance. This may include

● Sensitizing medical students regarding the adverse sex ratio while stressing upon the
ethical issues involved in female feticide.
● Conduct regular workshops/ Continuing Medical Education sessions which would
greatly help to reiterate the importance of this problem in the country. Private
practitioners should also be encouraged to participate in such programs.
● Organize awareness campaigns in field practice areas.

India has yet a long way to go in her fight against pre-birth elimination of females. Time is
quickly ticking away. A shortage of girls would lead to a shortage of eligible brides thus making
the girl a “scarce commodity”. According to UNFPA projection, by the year 2025 a significant
share of men above 30 would still be single, and that many will never be able to marry at all.
Men in the states of Haryana and Punjab are already experiencing a nearly 20% deficit of
marriageable women. ​A concerted effort by the medical fraternity, the law, political leaders,
NGOs, media, teachers and the community itself is the need of the hour.

IMPACT ON THE SOCIETY:

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​The impact on the society of female foeticide is immense today.Not only today
but the society is witnessing so many bad effects since a long time. Ofcourse there is no such
positive impact on society on this incident.There are only negative impacts that affects the
so-called society.One of the important point is the low rate of sex ratio.Along with it the other
impacts are sexual harassment,decrease in population,early age marriage and lot more such
cases.

A) LOW SEX RATIO:

​In southern Asian countries the sex ratio is tremendously low when compared to other
continents and developed countries.Frequently decrease in the rate of female child brings
the imbalance in the sex ratio.
B) POPULATION DECLING:
​The overall population is decreasing over a period of time because of low rate of
female child.According to 2011 census there are only 933 women compared 1000 males
in India.
C) SEXUAL HARRASEMENT/RAPE:
​In a recent survey it has shown that in places where women are endangered
species,the rate of rape has increased largely.Males are keen to be with girls,and when
they don’t get them easily,they attempt such anti-social behavior.

PREVENTION AND SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM:

​There are some of prevention of solutions are there which can be attained to
prevent this Female foeticide,in some countries especially in Asian countries.

● Public awareness programmes can be arranged to target young generations so that they
can be more conscious about the factors that daughters are equally important in our
society and family.
● Cancellation of the license of such hospitals and doctors where cases like abortions takes
place will be another big solution to the problem.
● Also the cancellations of license of path labs and companies that are involved in sex
determination process and supplying such kits should be banned and cancelled.

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● Punishments like jailed and fines should be imposed on the people who undergo such
process.Be it the parents or family members,attempting such process,shall be punishable
act.
● Establish new laws and strict rules against Doctors, hospitals and people who involve
under the act of Female foeticide.

CONCLUSION:

The ineffective implementation of the legislation is evident in India's skewed gender ratio. If it is
possible to stop abortion and foeticide of female by legal enforcements on the demand and
supply sides, female infants will see the light and breathe the air of the earth. Even if there is no
direct female infanticides, indirect infanticides must occur until and unless our conceptions . In
India 98 Foeticide during 2000 Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat ,Haryana, J&K,
Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra ,Orissa Punjab, Rajasthan ,Sikkim ,Tamil
Nadu, West Bengal, Chandigarh, Delhi State/UT value of I and P regarding various economic,
social, and ritual reasons about the girls are changed. The codified law world over considers
human life as sacred and specific legal provisions have been devised to protect the life of the
born and the un-born. However, the objective of the law gets defeated due to lacunae in the law
and lack of proper implementation. Even though the law is a powerful instrument of change yet
law alone cannot root out this social problem. The girls are devalued not only because of the
economic considerations but also because of socio-cultural factors, such as, the belief that son
extends the lineage, enlarges the family tree, provides protection safety and security to the family
and is necessary for salvation as he alone can light the funeral pyre and perform other death
related rites and rituals. Evidence indicates that the problem of female foeticide and infanticide is
more prevalent in orthodox families (see Srivastava, 2001). It is, therefore, essential that these
sociocultural factors be tackled by changing the thought process through awareness generation,
mass appeal and social action. In addition to this all concerned i.e. the religious and social
leaders, voluntary organisations, women’s groups, socially responsible media, the doctors; the
Medical Council/Association (by enforcing medical ethics and penalties on deviant doctors) and
the law enforcement personnel should work in a coordinated way.

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http://www.youth24x7.com/society/item/100-female-foeticidelets-stop-it 

http://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l292-Female-Foeticide.html 

http://supremecourtofindia.nic.in/speeches/speeches_2006/eff.pdf 

http://unchaahi.wordpress.com/2008/03/07/can-we-act-now-please/

www.bioline.org.br/pdf?jp08099

https://femalefoeticideinindia.wordpress.com

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