There are many ethical issues around beginning of life. One of the main issues which Indian community faces around beginning of life is sex selective abortion. In recent years, it is seen an increase in abortion rate because of sex determination. Although it is a fairly new practice but in Indian families it was seen deep rooted from Indian old culture. Every day an estimated 3,000 female foetus are aborted (Hadley, 1996).
In Briton and various other countries, women outnumbered men but in India the incidence increase day by day (Francome, Vekemans, 2007). This issue is not only a problem in India it also raised many ethical issues. Not only India other Asian countries like China, Pakistan and Sri Lanka also reported the same issue ie, sex selective abortion (Francome, Vekemans, 2007).
When senses showed a marked difference in male and female ratio and an increase in abortion made government aware of the problem (Tribe, 1990). Both educated and uneducated families practice sex selective abortion. This is a leading issue in ethics. People argue towards and against this practice. Killing a foetus just because of sex selection is not at all justifiable.
With the help of this essay i would like to discus about the background of sex selective abortion in India, various procedures and practices, law, stakeholders and ethics principles around sex selective abortion.
Background of sex selective abortion in India.
The population of India was estimated 1,095 million in 2006 and in between the year's 2000 to 2005 infant mortality rate were 68 per 1000 births (Francome, Vekemans, 2007). Female infanticide is been practiced by Indian families from a very long time but it started getting recognition when male female ratio was shown through censes. It was not till 1871, when first censes showed the scope of this problem been evident. The survey result showed the abnormal male female ratio ie, 940:1000. This made many aware of the seriousness of issues (Maribhat, Francis, 2003).
Indian families, for example, not only consider son as an economical asset (ie, the son will support the parents when they grow old) buy also for Hindu majority, a son is necessary for many religious activities such as family religious prayers, funeral pyres etc. Mean while a daughter is considered as a drain to family recourses ie, according to Hindu culture while the daughter gets married the parents should give a huge amount of money to the bride's family so called as dowry. Parents ever consider daughter as a punishment given by God for their sins (Patil, 1996).
Subsequent census reports showed no improvement in the abnormal sex ratio despite attempts to ensure that all women were reported. In a Sikh village (Indian village) the male female ratio showed a marked difference about 31:100 (Miller, 1981). Almost all parts of India practises infanticide and abortion because of sex determination but Northern Indian states is much popular. When years passed this sex ratio continued o decline until 1981, a time a small improvement was noted from 930 to 934 women per 1000 men.
This improvement was because of birth of various feminist groups who fought against such unethical practice and a period of Indian economic growth. Projections were optimistically made for a ratio of 944 women to 1000 men by the 4 year 2001 (Kanitkar, 1993). It gave a great shock when 1991 census showed a decreased sex ratio of 929 women to 1000 men. There are many laws against such practice but there are some clinics which practice this abortion procedure for money.
The main factors which forces mother or parents to get a sex selective abortion are
Cultural and family pressure.
Education.
Dowry.
Increase in population.
Other personal choices.
Society plays a very important role in forcing mother or parents to get a sex selective abortion. As per Indian culture a baby boy is a necessity. More than family society is concerned about this issue. If a mother is not delivering a boy she is considered as cursed and discriminated among the society. Baby girl is considered as a curse from god and drain to family wealth. A boy is necessary to do all the religious activities in the family. He is also considered as an asset to the family. He brings wealth to the family. The pressure from the society put pressure on family and compels mother to get a sex selective abortion (Patil, 1996). Dowry was one of the main reasons for sex selective abortion. When a girl is born parents should start saving money for her marriage and in every marriage dowry is kind of compulsory. To avoid giving dowry parents go for abortion. Abortion was supported in India government arguing abortion will help in controlling population (Francome, Vekemans, 2007). Sex selective abortion practices are mainly seen among illiterate crowed but it is also seen among educated families. An interview with a mother who is well educated and she gave birth to 2 baby girl and now she is pregnant for the third time. She says "I am scared. My family need a baby boy. Even my husband wants a baby boy. It is his right. If i will not be able to give a baby boy my family members will hate me. They will show discrimination towards me. If the foetus is female she is ready to get a sex selective abortion" (Hadley, 1996).
The rate of abortion boosted with the introduction of methods of prenatal sex determination in India in the 1970's. This technology was introduced in India to identify various genetic disorders in infant and proceed with the treatment line but sometimes this technology was related to sex determination. This technology is misused in India mainly for sex determination and getting an abortion done because the findings show the baby is a girl.
Sex selective abortion which is also known as female feticide is a two step presses. First step is the identification of foetal sex through various medical procedures. Main medical ways of finding the sex of the baby is through amniocentesis, chorionic villus sampling, or ultrasound. The second step is therapeutic abortion. In India under medical termination of pregnancy act 1971, abortion can be done readily and free of cost at every government hospitals and clinics throughout India (Solapurkar, 1991).
Amniocentesis, mainly done to identify genetic abnormalities and sex determination can also be done. In this procedure fluid containing foetal call around the foetal sac is removed through an inserted catheter. This procedure is mainly performed during 15 to 17 weeks of pregnancy. Results can be produced between 1 to 2 weeks and allow parents to plan early second trimester abortion. These tests are conducted at city hospitals and clinics. Rural hospitals are limited with the recourses but people are there to carry these samples to city hospitals to do the test (Kusum, 1993).
Other procedures like chorionic villus sampling and ultrasound is not less common method of sex determination. Chorionic villus sampling is much difficult procedure than Amniocentesis but one of the main advantages is sampling can be done around tenth week of gestation. Amniocentesis is a costly procedure and risky one too. Ultrasound is less commonly used procedure for sex determination since it won't give accurate result till second trimester of pregnancy. This test is simple to perform compared to other two procedures so it's easily available throughout India. It is seen; some privet agencies established such procedure in travelling vans and perform this test to make money (Burns, 1994). Because of the great need of son and discrimination towards daughters, India witnesses a rapid increase in abortion rate at hospitals and nursing homes. Infanticide became a widely practiced immoral act all over India. Most of Indian citizens believe soul does not enter the foetus till second trimester of pregnancy this act of killing foetus (female babies) became acceptable and guilt free.
Sex determination and abortion became a big business shortly after 1970's. Some agencies keep billboards to promote abortion of female foetus saying "Invest Rs. [rupees] 500 now, save Rs. 50,000 later", it means get an abortion done with 500 Rs so to save 50,000 Rs future dowry (Kusum, 1993).
There are vast amount of studies showing the rapid increase of abortion centres in India. In Bombay between the year1982 to 1987 a rapid increase of abortion centres was shown ie, from 10 to 284. Different studies regarding abortion also showed a marked increase.
Laws regarding sex selective abortion.
Due to the rapid increase in abortion rate and the ratio between men and women showed a marked difference, government and court took this condition seriously and introduced laws against such practices. Government of India has opposed the practice of sex selective abortion and infanticide but to put in action it was slow and ineffective. Dowry was one of the main causes of sex selective abortion. During 1961 Dowry Prohibition Act was passed it was a decade before sex determination technology was introduced in India. Even though revising the law in 1983 and 1985, this law has been poorly put in action and was ignored completely. Most people thought giving dowry became more prominent in last 20 years (Bumiller, 1990).
Before 1971, abortion was not legal in India. In 1964, the central family planning board advised legalization of abortion. This came into action in 1971, when the medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) used to protect the health of women. In 1975 the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act was revised which allowed medical termination of pregnancy ie, abortion for any of the following reasons. The main reasons are divided into five
The pregnant woman has a serious of medical disease or problems that would harm mother's life if the pregnancy continues.
Continuation of pregnancy can cause a substantial risk of physical or mental handicap to newborn child.
The pregnancy resulted from rape.
The socioeconomic surrounding of mother would cause harm to the new born child.
Pregnancy occurred because of failure of a contraceptive method. This last reason is mainly for married couple. This is not applicable for an unmarried mother who is asking for abortion.
The medical termination of pregnancy act requires that abortion should only be practiced in government approved hospitals or facilities. Mainly because of the short supply of such government approved facilities and hospitals this was not enforced properly. The availability of such facilities (government approved hospitals that can perform abortion) varied from state to state. There was also shortage in trained staff to do the procedure (abortion).
Government was against sex selective abortion but it took a long time to pass legislation to combat it. At government hospitals sex selective abortion got banned by 1970 but private hospitals still followed the practice. During this time many women's group got formulated and started acting against sex selective abortion because o there struggle and rebel against such practice government took this problem seriously and tried to find solutions. In the 1984, many organisation like women's group, civil liberties groups, and health organisations formed against sex selection and determination, headquarter in Mumbai. These groups monitored the growth of such practices in various parts of India. As a result of their effort and others work, the state government of Maharashtra passed the regulation of the use of prenatal diagnostic techniques at by 1988. Many other states followed this Act.
During 1994 the central government of India passed Prenatal Diagnostic Technique Regulation and Prevention of Misuse Act which covers the whole country. The main points in this Act are ( ).
No genetic counselling centre, genetic laboratory, or clinics, unless not registered under the Act, can conduct or help in conducting activities relating to diagnose techniques that can be used to assess the sex of foetus.
Prenatal diagnostic can only be conducted to detect genetic abnormalities (not for sex determination of foetus).
Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques may only be undertaken by a high risk mothers who meet at least one of the following criteria;
Above 35 years of age.
History of two or more abortion.
Exposure to hazardous substances.
Family history of genetic disorder.
Any other abnormalities noticed on mother.
No person conducting prenatal diagnostic procedures shall communicate to the pregnant women concerning or any relation to sex of the foetus by words, signs or any other way of communication.
No person, including specialists in the field of infertility, shall conduct or cause to conducted or aid in conducting a pre-conception sex selection techniques.
There were loopholes to these laws which made people and illegal practitioners to practice sex selective abortion.
Many laws are put in action but it is now followed properly because of negligence of police and other higher authorities who are responsible to stop such leading and increasing issue in the country.
Stakeholders
There are three main stakeholders,
Parents (mainly mother).
Foetus.
Health provider (Nurses).
Ethical argument around sex selective abortion.
The main ethical principles are
Mother
Autonomy.
Foetus
Justice (Egalitarian).
Right to live.
Health care provider.
Deontology.
Autonomy.
One of the main ethical principles applied and argued here is Autonomy of mother to choose what she wants to do with the foetus growing in her. Autonomy is defined as personal rule of the self that is free from both controlling influence by others and from personal limitation that prevent meaningful choice (Beauchamp and Childress, 1994, 121). Autonomy is an understanding of the importance of the right to choose, freewill and self-determination. This is because there is a consensual argument that self-government is self-evidently a fundamental right of a human. Any interference to mother's autonomy is unethical (Holland, 2004). Here the autonomous right of the mother is misused by either mother or family and society. 'Pre- choicers' argue that mother has the complete authority on what to do with the foetus (Holland, 2004).
