Disappearing Daughters of India: Upto 12 Million Girls Aborted Over The Last 30 Years

by A Sharma in People, July 13, 2011

The selective abortion of female fetuses has contributed to a great imbalance in the child sex ratio in India-study says.

In India the remarkable growth of selective abortion of girls has increased over the past few decades, says the study, published in the medical journal, The Lancet. This trend of strong preference for boys over girls, and high rate of sex-selective abortion has led to serious decline in the number of girls.
In a nationwide survey, census data from 1991 to 2011 was analyzed in India. Over 250,000 births were studied to estimate the difference between boy-girl ratios over these years. It was discovered that missing daughters occurred mostly in richer and educated families especially in families in which the first-born child had been a girl.

The study was published on line first and was led by Professor Prabhat Jha, Centre for Global Health Research, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Canada. Dr Jayant K Banthia, former Registrar-General of India, also helped him with this research work.
Abortion is legal in India since 1971, but aborting babies only because they were girls is shocking .It is true that boys are supposed to carry on the family’s name, but considering girls as the curse on the family is quite upsetting.
The Government of India had implemented a Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act in 1996 to prevent the misuse of techniques. Despite strong laws and strict policies, many doctors are breaking the law by provide this facility illegally. Only doctors know the child’s gender, and if they do reveal the secret in front of the patient, it helps changing their mindset and could lead to sex-selective abortion.“The selective abortion of female fetuses, usually after a firstborn girl, has increased in India over the past few decades, and has contributed to a widening imbalance in the child sex ratio”, Professor Jha said.
With an annual decline rate of 0.52%, it has been estimated that up to 12 million girls have been aborted in India over the last 30 years.
“Reliable monitoring and reporting of sex ratios by birth order in each of India’s districts could be a reasonable part of any efforts to curb the remarkable growth of selective abortions of girls”, concluded Prabhat Jha.