The ratio between boys and girls in India is skewed more than normal. This is due to abortions based on the sex of the fetus. A tyicall ratio of boys and girls is 105 males to 100 females, however in India in the 2011 census, it is 109 males to 100 females. This is seemingly not a drastic number, but there are 7 million less girls than boys under the age of seven. Although this sex selective abortions have always been known to happen in India, there is a recent boom due to more literacy and more financial stability among families. The article gave the story of a family as an example. The family had three girls and were very content, however the third pregnancy ended with with abortion as did four more, simply because the fetuses were female. This is now a common occurrence in India.
There are a few reasons that Indian families have a big want for sons. The biggest is because sons stay with the family and daughters move away. Sons are expected to take care of parents in their elderly years, filel piety is the term for this. Another reason for sons is that a female's family is expected to pay for the wedding and sometimes even a dowry. The story in the article stated that his first daughter's wedding cost to $9,000 (equivalent to 20 months of his pay).
The government knows that there is a serious issue in their country and has tried to address it. Sex selective abortions are illegal (as well as telling the sex of the fetus) and abortions after 12 weeks are illegal. However, sex cannot be shown until 14 weeks and many doctors promote their practice with making sex selective abortions. The doctors doing this are committing medical crime and allow abortions at any time and under any circumstance
The government plans to take more drastic steps in reducing sex selective abortions. They plan to give incentives to families with girls, create a social security fund, as well as cracking down on medical practices.
This is a serious issue that has reached global attention, especially for women's rights advocates. Although many are pro-choice, it is becoming a devastating problem to India. Without enough women in the country, mail order brides are being brought into the country. This causes the first global issue. Women are taken (sometimes by force) to India and put into a new, strange "habitat". Statistically, women are not treated very well in marriages. There are high rates of abuse and even mortality during pregnancy. If the Indian government continues to allow sex selective abortions by not cracking down on the medical practitioners in their country, the entire female race will continue to decline. Also, neighboring countries with similar views of filel piety will perhaps begin sex selective abortions and their ratio of female to male will also decline. This is not a simple issue of pro-choice or pro-life; it is a complex gender discrimination that has potential to affect the entire world.
The potential females of India are not the only ones at risk, but also Indian women. It was not mentioned in the article, but a woman who has numerous abortions will decrease her fertility as well as danger her health. Also, stress on a woman to have a boy is psychologically pressing. Pregnancy, that is created on purpose, should be a joyous time for a woman. However, women in India are put in stressful situations relating the sex of their unborn child. It is now questioned if couples are getting rid of girls for a chance at a boy, or getting rid of girls simply because they are girls.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/india/110914/shiva-rules-sex-selection-gender-discrimination-abortion?page=0,1
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