Daughters are Priceless

On Female Foeticide 

Women are ill-treated all over the world; the most inhuman form happens when they are killed even before they are born. After around seven decades of attaining Independence and India’s progress in the fields of science, technology, nuclear power, etc. over the years, it is a sad truth that a large portion of the population is still inclined to orthodox beliefs and approaches. The illegal and dreadful practice of Female Foeticide is widespread in the country than ever before. Female Foeticide is the selective abortion or elimination of female foetuses after the detection of the baby’s gender by medical means.

Female Foeticide is usually done under familial pressure; provoked by the priority for sons as family sizes shrink and compelled by the fear of high wedding costs and dowry. Families have a fervent desire to have a boy child to continue the family line through the male born into it. A son is also seen as the main source of income even though women are equally educated and earn as much as men do now a days. The common misconception still remains that it is the males who look after his parents and support the family while daughters are often considered as “cargo” which are shipped off to another home upon marriage. The custom of dowry breaks parents’ spirits and they start calculating their daughter’s marriage expenses right from the child’s first breath. The thought of the lump sum that should be paid to the daughter after a couple of decades shatters them. The deteriorated status of women in the society is another reason for Female Foeticide to be very prevalent in the country. Years of repression has caused women to believe that they are inferior to men. They willingly take to the role of the timid, compliant and unassuming wife who works persistently for the family. Usually, Female Foeticide happens with the consent of the mother where they agree to this brutal crime considering it as their duty to the family. Illegal sex determination and termination of pregnancies has become common following the legalisation of abortion in India. Industrialisation of the health sector with the introduction of ultrasound, amniocentesis, chorionic villus sampling, etc. has fortified the selective gender abortion quarter. The booming number of hospitals and clinics facilitates affordable and easy access to these diagnostic facilities.

The reported case of Female Foeticide in Orissa in 2007 shook the country and indicated the alarming magnitude of this social evil. The state police and medical authorities recovered hundreds of female foetuses dumped in a remote pit in the outskirts of Nayagarh district in Orissa. The practice came to light when a boy found seven female foetuses packed in blood-stained polythene bags while searching for waste bottles near the Duburi Hills. It drew the attention of people and media when the natives discovered a well which was a dumped with dead foetuses, skulls and skeletons in polythene bags. Skulls and skeletons were suspected to be of grown foetuses and babies that were just born. A special team from the National Commission for Women were sent to visit the place and investigate the case. The authorities found out that the clinics and nursing homes in Nayargah district did not possess a license for Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MPT) and conducted the atrocious practice of sex determination and female foeticide. It was even more appalling to find out that it was carried out with the unofficial consent of the officials working with the health service and administration.

The consequences of Female Foeticide are serious and far-reaching. The number of girls per 1000 boys is diminishing with each passing decade in India. Surveys show that the sex ratio has plunged to a record low of 914 girls for 1000 boys in 2011. The most affected states are shockingly the progressive states such as Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana and Punjab. Sex ratio may appear to be simply a number of both genders but it is significant for the country’s political, economic and emotional development. The sharp drop in the number of girls makes them scarce for the growing number of eligible males for marriage. A report by Red Cross Society shows that there is a large proportion of bachelors who have crossed the marriageable age in the states of Haryana and Punjab as a result of the insufficient number of women. The decline in the gender ratio also causes illegal trafficking of women in many regions of the country. Cases of assault, rape and violence against women has become pervasive in the backdrop of fewer available females. Abortion or killing of foetuses increases maternal deaths and deteriorates the health of the women as they become prone to infections and other ailments. Female Foeticide is a threat to the demography of India that leads to a decline in the country’s population with fewer births and with no mothers to bear any child.

Ignorance is one of the major reasons for the rising number of Female Foeticide cases in India and spreading awareness can help in saving our future sisters, mothers and wives. Awareness and education should be given to the young generation on the role and importance of a girl child in our social milieu. Female Foeticide cannot be controlled until families start valuing their daughters as much as they value their sons. Sex determination tests violate the Constitutional rights such as the ‘right to equality’ under Article 14 and the ‘right to live with dignity’ under Article 21. The Government has also enacted laws such as the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act 1994, Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of sex selection) Act 2002, etc. to curb Female Foeticide and set up Stale Level Supervisor Bodies to monitor the implementation of the Acts. Female Foeticide has gained worldwide attention and it is promising to find that many international and national law making bodies have come forward to curb this misdeed. Some of their noticeable steps include cancellation of doctor’s license who plays a part in fulfilling a patient’s demand for Female Foeticide, high fines and legal action against parents who try to kill their unborn female child, legal penalties on companies that specialise in marketing medical equipment used for illegal sex determination and abortion in hospitals without licenses, organising awareness campaigns among young adults and prospective parents, etc.

It is an ironic fact that Female Foeticide happens widely in a country where people worship various forms of Goddesses in all its religions. Female Foeticide rips the social fabric of the country by ratifying the brutal form of violence against women and changing its demographic composition. It is high time to place gender equality a high priority in India’s development policies and give a chance for the girl children to blossom and shine. This is not about women becoming the dominant sex or surpassing men but the basic humanitarian concern to grant an innocent child the fundamental norm of her “right to life”. A consistent and firm effort by everyone in the society is essential to stop this murder of our own flesh and blood.

Daughters are angels. Save them.