Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics - Eubios Ethics ...

6 Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 22 (January 2012)
914.for the National Sex Ratio for the year 2011. In
some States it has dropped to about 750 girls.
Cultural and social Implications
In India like many other countries the word marriage is
used to denote the legal union between one man and
one woman. When the sex ratio worsens to 1000 males
to 700 (10 to 7) females then there may be new changes
in Indian cultural and social values. If the meaning of
marriage remains unchanged then it means that there
can be only 7 marriages i.e. 7 boys could marry 7 girls.
Naturally 3 boys may have to remain unmarried. The
marriage market would carry the sign board “No more
stock” of girls. When University students were apprised
of such a future situation their responses were disturbing.
They indicated that cohabitation, polygamy/polyandry,
sexual revelry among male partners and the like may be
of common occurrence. To meet the shortage of ‘wife’
one could adopt the concept of ‘part-time wife’. Currently
there has been legal proceedings on the viability of
homosexual sexual-lifestyles in Indian context (Trivedi,
2012; Venkatesan, 2012).
As sex ratio worsens
The latest 2011 census recorded the lowest ever child
sex ratio of 914 females to every 1000 males. It is a
decline from the 1971 census from 940. In the face of
imbalance in the present sex ratio and with an
expectation that it will deteriorate further the Planning
Commission panel put forwarded a taboo proposal in
order to prevent a major shift in policies. According to a
Planning Commission member Syeda Hamid “Instead of
totally banning sex determination, which the government
has failed to do, it would be a better idea to be flexible on
allowing sex determination — if families so choose —
and in case it is a female foetus, the government will
‘adopt’ it,”
The idea behind the Commission’s proposal to relax
the legal ban for rural areas as part of a programme of
“adopting” female foetuses and generously incentivising
families and health workers to ensure the safe delivery of
girl babies (Dhar, 2011). On the other hand the All India
Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) strongly
condemned the Planning Commission’s proposal to
promote the “adoption” of unwanted female foetuses in a
bid to stem the continuous decline in child sex ratios. The
Commission’s move to relax the ban in the name of
“flexibility and choice” tantamount to accepting the
argument that sex selection is a matter of “freedom of
choice”, which has already been struck down by the
courts while upholding the PC&PNDT Act.
Census data from 1971 to 2011 show that PC&PNDT
Act has not been effective. The St. John’s Academy of
Health Sciences (SJAHS), Bangalore in South India held
a series of lecture programs in collaboration with the
Center for Global Health Research (CGHR) on the 16 th
Dec. 2011. One session was “12 Million Missing Girls in
India: New Evidence on Selective Abortions”. The
number of persons killed in the practice of female
foeticide is a clear case of genocide and could exceed
any previous count in any other country.
Asian culture transported to the West
The Interim Editor in Chief of Canadian Medical
Association Journal begins with a humor the sad episode
of female foeticide in India and in Canada and America.
Indian immigrants to the West not only brought taste
curry recipes but also nasty cultural practice of female
infanticide and its variations. It his editorial entitles “It’s a
girl!— could be a death sentence” (Kale, 2012).
In Asia selective abortion is practiced and the victim is
always the unwanted female foetus. Asians of Sikh,
Hindu and Chinese descent who have settled in Canada
do practice sex selection (Picard, 2012). Even though
child bearing and upbringing of children are expensive
across the globe, the conception and birth of a female
baby is the most unwelcomed event. The practice of
giving and taking dowry will swindle a family’s financial
resources. In India, since 1997, a medical doctor is
barred from disclosing the sex of the baby when the
mother is subjected to ultrasounds and amniocentesis
procedures. It raises yet another bioethical issue of
women’s right to know about even the small details of her
pregnancy. But the message can be (is) conveyed
through nonverbal methods. Therefore, it is difficult to
enforce the existing law which prevents the disclosure of
the sex of the foetus. In Canada a blanket ban on sexselective-abortion
would be unethical since all Canadians
are not guilty of such a practice. It is only the Asian
communities of Asia settled in Canada.
Dr. Rajendra Kale of the Canadian Medical Association
Journal highlighted the global problem of female feticide
that happens in India and China by the millions. He
pointed out that “it also happens in North America in
numbers large enough to distort the male to female ratio
in some ethnic groups. Should female feticide in Canada
be ignored because it is a small problem localized to
minority ethnic groups? No. Small numbers cannot be
ignored when the issue is about discrimination against
women in its most extreme form. This evil devalues
women. How can it be curbed? Therefore he has “called
for a ban on disclosing the sex of a foetus until 30 weeks,
at which point it is difficult to obtain an abortion” (Kale,
2012). Such stringent laws only lead to black-marketing
in sex selective abortion. On the other hand, the National
body representing Canada’s obstetricians and
gynecologists “contends that Dr. Kale’s proposal flies in
the face of accepted standards for patient care and fails
to acknowledge that changing deep-rooted cultural
beliefs, not imposing heavy-handed restrictions, is the
key (Friesen, 2012).
It is unclear why American and Canadian citizens of
Indian and Asian origin should resort to sex-selectionabortion
when there is no economic hardship. According
to Kale’s editorial that in U.S. 40% of 65 female Indian
immigrants “had previously aborted a female fetus and
90 per cent of those currently pregnant with a girl had
pursued the idea of abortion” (Kale, 2012; Friesen,
2012).
The practice of sex-selective-abortion is a combination
of cultural, social and spiritual problem and it can’t be
healed through law. Giving and taking dowry is illegal by
a Government ban. But still the name dowry has been
changed to ‘gift’. Somehow the parents of a girl want to