Susmita Barman investigates how, despite the Indian government's attempt to clamp down on the use of techniques to select sex, female feticide still occurs

When the red and gold sign advertising a glut of diagnostic tests available at a private clinic disappeared, it never occurred to me that the health department had closed the clinic down. Neighbours told me that the doctors at the clinic had been secretly doing ultrasonography to determine the sex of fetuses and helping abort those that were female.

Rising ratios

The closure of the clinic coincided with a news headline outlining the decision taken by the West Bengal government to implement the newly amended Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1994. The act bans determination of sex and imposes fines and imprisonment on doctors who reveal the sex of a fetus to parents.¹ Concerned at the increase in the male to female ratio and the number of female fetuses aborted, state health officials forced at least 18 nursing homes and private clinics to close.

A clinic I know was one of those blacklisted. I was shocked by the incident. I had visited the clinic early this year. Nothing suggested what was really going on. I even recall a notice stuck on a vinyl board on the wall behind the reception desk saying, "Don't ask us to determine the sex of a fetus. That may land you in prison for seven years"--just as the PNDT Act stipulates.

I remembered how crowded the clinic used to be on most mornings when I left for my college. And invariably pregnant ladies would be waiting for "diagnoses." Maybe they have carried on the lucrative practice so long, because the law does not prevent doctors testing fetuses for genetic and congenital abnormalities. This is why, in principle, you cannot prosecute a doctor unless you are able to prove that they have given the faintest hint about the sex of a fetus.

SIMON FRASER/SPL

Sex selection technique:ultrasound of a fetus

The plight of a girl

A recent study by a group of experts in community medicine based in New Delhi highlighted the plight of a girl in India from the moment of her conception.² Although the Indian Council of Medical Research and Medical Council of India has repeatedly asked doctors not to misuse technology, the feticide still goes on.1

According to the 2001 national census, the female to male ratio in India is 933 to 1000.³ In states like Punjab in the northwestern fringes of the country the ratio is as low as 773 to 1000. After the publication of the data, the government and several charitable organisations campaigned aggressively to stop female feticide.

A week after the clinic was shut down, the Supreme Court clamped down on a clinic in Mumbai for allegedly hawking banned sex determination techniques on a website.⁴ The site offered "the ultimate form of family planning" to couples by "selecting" the sex of the baby. Other overseas companies target India too. One company based in the United States tried to sell a preconception sex selection kit over the internet.⁵

Bollywood boys

But it is not the poor uneducated majority that uses these sites and clinics. It is the affluent members of society who select the sex of their child so that the male line survives in the clan. A daughter is still seen as a burden because of the hefty dowries that their families must pay when they marry. This is why birth of a son is still heralded as a sign of good luck in most Indian families. Newly wed brides continue to be blessed with statements such as "May you be the mother of thousand sons," by the guardians in a family. Even Bollywood movies depict families celebrating when a male child is born. Popular soap operas on television show doctors announcing that the expecting mother is carrying a son, while the family celebrate joyfully.

Adverts for brides

Although India is fast evolving into a global technological hub, social changes have failed to keep pace with the dramatic progress. Matrimonial advertisements can still be found in newspapers, as most marriages in India are arranged. Parents look for the right kind of bride for their sons and then together, both sets of parents decide the terms of the marriage.

A stricter legal amendment may shut down corrupt clinics and save a few female children from feticide, but will the law be effective if people do not change their social attitudes?

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