Editing Sex-selective abortion (section)

=== India ===
{{Further|Female foeticide in India}}
[[File:2011 Census sex ratio map for the states and Union Territories of India Boys to Girls 0 to 1 age group.svg|thumb|200px|left|A map of India's child sex ratio, 2011.]]

A research by [[Pew Research Center]] based on Union government data indicates foeticide of at least 9 million females in the years 2000–2019. The research found that 86.7% of these foeticides were by [[Hindus]] (80% of the population), followed by [[Sikhs]] (1.7% of the population) with 4.9%, and [[Muslims]] (14% of the population) with 6.6%. The research also indicated an overall decline in preference for sons in the time period.<ref>{{cite news | vauthors = Kaur B |title=Foeticide: More 'Missing' Girls Among Hindus Than Muslims in Last Two Decades, Official Data Shows |url=https://thewire.in/women/india-missing-girls-sex-ratio-infanticide-pew-analysis |access-date=September 6, 2022 |work=[[The Wire (India)|The Wire]] |date=September 6, 2022 |archive-date=September 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220906121635/https://thewire.in/women/india-missing-girls-sex-ratio-infanticide-pew-analysis |url-status=live }}</ref>

India's 2001 census revealed a national 0–6 age child sex ratio of 108, which increased to 109 according to 2011 census (927 girls per 1000 boys and 919 girls per 1000 boys respectively, compared to expected normal ratio of 943 girls per 1000 boys).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Sex-ratio-worsens-in-small-families-improves-with-3-or-more-children/articleshow/50989227.cms|title=Sex ratio worsens in small families, improves with 3 or more children|website=[[The Times of India]]|date=February 15, 2016|access-date=May 14, 2018|archive-date=December 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225051046/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Sex-ratio-worsens-in-small-families-improves-with-3-or-more-children/articleshow/50989227.cms|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.census2011.co.in/p/glance.php | title = India at Glance – Population Census 2011 – Final | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140108025228/http://www.census2011.co.in/p/glance.php | archive-date=January 8, 2014 | work = Census of India, Government of India | date = 2013 }}</ref> The national average masks the variations in regional numbers according to 2011 census—Haryana's ratio was 120, Punjab's ratio was 118, Jammu & Kashmir was 116, and Gujarat's ratio was 111.<ref name=cc2011>{{cite web | url = http://www.actionaidusa.org/sites/files/actionaid/child_sex_ratio_-_presentation_by_census_commissioner.pdf | title = Child Sex Ratio in India | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131203181227/http://www.actionaidusa.org/sites/files/actionaid/child_sex_ratio_-_presentation_by_census_commissioner.pdf | archive-date=December 3, 2013 | vauthors = Chandramouli C | quote = Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India | date = 2011 }}</ref> The 2011 Census found eastern states of India had birth sex ratios between 103 and 104, lower than normal.<ref name=tec2011>{{cite web | url = http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-03-31/news/29365989_1_ratio-males-girl-child | title = Census of India 2011: Child sex ratio drops to lowest since Independence | archive-url = https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20120718173236/http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-03-31/news/29365989_1_ratio-males-girl-child | archive-date = July 18, 2012 | work =  The Economic Times, India }}</ref> In contrast to decadal nationwide census data, small non-random sample surveys report higher child sex ratios in India.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://india.unfpa.org/drive/SRBBooklet.pdf | title = Trends in Sex Ratio at Birth and Estimates of Girls Missing at Birth in India | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121021182934/http://india.unfpa.org/drive/SRBBooklet.pdf | archive-date=October 21, 2012 | work = UNFPA | date = July 2010 }}</ref>

The child sex ratio in India shows a regional pattern. India's 2011 census found that all eastern and southern states of India had a child sex ratio between 103 and 107,<ref name=cc2011 /> typically considered as the "natural ratio." The highest sex ratios were observed in India's northern and northwestern states – [[Haryana]] (120), [[Punjab, India|Punjab]] (118) and [[Jammu and Kashmir (union territory)|Jammu & Kashmir]] (116).<ref name=ci20012011>{{cite web | url = http://censusindia.gov.in/2011-prov-results/data_files/india/s13_sex_ratio.pdf | title = Child Sex Ratio 2001 versus 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140928131054/http://censusindia.gov.in/2011-prov-results/data_files/india/s13_sex_ratio.pdf | archive-date=September 28, 2014 | work = Census of India | publisher = Government of India | date = 2013 }}</ref> The western states of Maharashtra and Rajasthan 2011 census found a child sex ratio of 113, Gujarat at 112 and Uttar Pradesh at 111.<ref name=ci20012011 />

The Indian census data suggests there is a positive correlation between abnormal sex ratio and better socio-economic status and literacy. Urban India has higher child sex ratio than rural India according to 1991, 2001 and 2011 Census data, implying higher prevalence of sex selective abortion in urban India. Similarly, child sex ratio greater than 115 boys per 100 girls is found in regions where the predominant majority is Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Christian; furthermore "normal" child sex ratio of 104 to 106 boys per 100 girls are also found in regions where the predominant majority is Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Christian. These data contradict any hypotheses that may suggest that sex selection is an archaic practice which takes place among uneducated, poor sections or particular religion of the Indian society.<ref name=cc2011 /><ref name=wbhindia />

[[File:India Male to Female Sex Ratio 1941 1951 1961 1981 1991 2001 2011.png|thumb|250px|The male to female sex ratio for India, based on its official census data from 1941 through to 2011. The data suggests the existence of high sex ratios before and after the arrival of ultrasound-based prenatal care and sex screening technologies in India.]]
[[File:6th Earl of Mayo.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Richard Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo]], who was [[Governor-General of India]] at the time of the [[Female Infanticide Prevention Act, 1870]].]]

Rutherford and Roy, in their 2003 paper, suggest that techniques for determining sex prenatally that were pioneered in the 1970s, gained popularity in India.<ref>{{cite report | vauthors = Retherford RD, Roy TK |title=Factors affecting sex-selective abortion in India and 17 major states |date=2003 |hdl=10125/3488 | work = National Family Health Survey Subject Reports | volume = 21 | publisher = International Institute for Population Sciences, East-West Center Program on Population | location = Mumbai, India Honolulu, Hawaii, USA }}</ref> These techniques, claim Rutherford and Roy, became broadly available in 17 of 29 Indian states by the early 2000s. Such prenatal sex determination techniques, claim Sudha and Rajan in a 1999 report, where available, favored male births.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Sudha S, Irudaya RS | title = Female demographic disadvantage in India 1981-1991: sex selective abortions and female infanticide | journal = Development and Change | volume = 30 | issue = 3 | pages = 585–618 | date = July 1999 | pmid = 20162850 | doi = 10.1111/1467-7660.00130 | s2cid = 33446683 }}</ref>

Arnold, Kishor, and Roy, in their 2002 paper, too hypothesize that modern fetal sex screening techniques have skewed child sex ratios in India.<ref name=Arnold>{{cite journal | vauthors = Arnold F, Kishor S, Roy TK | year = 2002 | title = Sex-Selective Abortions in India | journal = Population and Development Review | volume = 28 | issue = 4| pages = 759–785 | doi = 10.1111/j.1728-4457.2002.00759.x }}</ref> Ganatra et al., in their 2000 paper, use a small survey sample to estimate that {{frac|1|6}} of reported abortions followed a sex determination test.<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Ganatra BR | date = 2000 | chapter = Abortion research in India: What we know, and what we need to know | veditors = Ramasubban R, Jejeebhoy SJ | title = Women's Reproductive Health in India. | location = New Delhi | publisher = Rawat Publications }}</ref>

The Indian government and various advocacy groups have continued the debate and discussion about ways to prevent sex selection. The immorality of prenatal sex selection has been questioned, with some arguments in favor of prenatal discrimination as more humane than postnatal discrimination by a family that does not want a female child. Others question whether the morality of sex selective abortion is any different over morality of abortion when there is no risk to the mother nor to the fetus, and abortion is used as a means to end an unwanted pregnancy.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Kumar D | year = 1983 | title = Male utopias or nightmares? | journal = Economic and Political Weekly | volume = 13 | issue = 3| pages = 61–64 | jstor = 4371751 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Gangoli G | year = 1998 | title = Reproduction, abortion and women's health | journal = Social Scientist | volume = 26 | issue = 11–12| pages = 83–105 | doi=10.2307/3517661 | jstor = 3517661 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Goodkind D | year = 1996 | title = On substituting sex preference strategies in East Asia: Does pre-natal sex selection reduce post natal discrimination? | journal = Population and Development Review | volume = 22 | issue = 1| pages = 111–125 | doi=10.2307/2137689 | jstor = 2137689 }}</ref>

India passed its first abortion-related law, the so-called Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1971, making abortion legal in most states, but specified legally acceptable reasons for abortion such as medical risk to mother and rape. The law also established physicians who can legally provide the procedure and the facilities where abortions can be performed, but did not anticipate sex selective abortion based on technology advances.<ref>{{cite web |title=Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act 1971 – Introduction |work=Med India |date=October 20, 2013 |url=https://www.medindia.net/indian_health_act/the-medical-termination-of-pregnancy-act-1971-introduction.htm |access-date=December 26, 2018 |archive-date=April 10, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410020324/https://www.medindia.net/indian_health_act/the-medical-termination-of-pregnancy-act-1971-introduction.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

With increasing availability of sex screening technologies in India through the 1980s in urban India, and claims of its misuse, the Government of India passed the [[Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994|Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques Act (PNDT)]] in 1994. This law was further amended into the Pre-Conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) (PCPNDT) Act in 2004 to deter and punish prenatal sex screening and sex selective abortion. The impact of the law and its enforcement is unclear. However, research shows that there was about a 0.7%-1% increase in female births after the PNDT Act was passed in 1994. Unfortunately, this data was not significant.<ref name="Nandi_2015">{{cite journal | vauthors = Nandi A |date=October 2, 2015 |title=The Unintended Effects of a Ban on Sex-Selective Abortion on Infant Mortality: Evidence from India |journal=Oxford Development Studies |language=en |volume=43 |issue=4 |pages=466–482 |doi=10.1080/13600818.2014.973390 |s2cid=154284754 |issn=1360-0818  }}</ref> [[United Nations Population Fund]] and India's National Human Rights Commission, in 2009, asked the Government of India to assess the impact of the law. The Public Health Foundation of India, an activist NGO in its 2010 report, claimed a lack of awareness about the Act in parts of India, inactive role of the Appropriate Authorities, ambiguity among some clinics that offer prenatal care services, and the role of a few medical practitioners in disregarding the law.<ref name=wbhindia /> At the start of passing this act, women were still able to travel across borders to continue having sex-selective abortions. This was until the national PNDT was passed in 1996.<ref name="Nandi_2015" />

The [[Ministry of Health and Family Welfare]] of India has targeted education and media advertisements to reach clinics and medical professionals to increase awareness. The Indian Medical Association has undertaken efforts to prevent prenatal sex selection by giving its members ''Beti Bachao'' (save the daughter) badges during its meetings and conferences.<ref name=wbhindia />

In November 2007, MacPherson estimated that 100,000 abortions every year continue to be performed in India solely because the fetus is female.<ref name=macpherson /> Women may further be subject to violence for birthing daughters over sons. In 2016, [[Murder of Anu Bansal|Anu Bansal]] was murdered by her husband after giving birth to another daughter. She was burned to death.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2022-07-29 |title=Bulandshahr: India girls who wrote letter with blood get justice |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-62344788 |access-date=2025-04-22 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref>