Doctors voice their concern over ‘sex–selection’ –based abortions

New Delhi – Delhi Medical Association has expressed its concerns over the rampant practice of sex–selection abortion and has urged the government to impose stricter limitations on abortion after the 12th week of pregnancy.

“Among the abortions performed after the 12th week of pregnancy, 95 percent are done for sex–selection purposes,” said Dr. K.K. Aggarwal, president, Delhi Medical Association.

According to Dr. Aggarwal, couples often approach doctors for abortion without revealing that they have already had tests to determine the sex of the fetus. “If the sex–determination test shows a female child, they arrange for an abortion,” he said.

The doctor pointed out that women seeking abortions would ordinarily do so earlier in pregnancy, but reliable sex–selection tests are not available until the 12th week.

In an earlier bid to curtail the widespread practice of female feticide, the Indian government banned sex–determination tests. But such tests are routinely performed illegally, even in remote villages, because of the heavy preference for male children in Indian society.

Sex–selection abortion has a sharp disparity in the number of male babies in India. In some regions, there have been only 929 baby girls born to every 1,000 boys in the past decade. The decennial national census in 2001 confirmed widespread fears about an imbalance between the sexes, especially among children under the age of 6.