Sex Determination Tests in India
This article was first published in the print edition of Manushi Journal. (Issue-86, Jan-Feb 1995)
Technologies like amniocentesis and ultrasound, used in most parts of the world largely for detecting foetal abnormalities, are used in large parts of the Indian subcontinent for determining the sex of the foetus so that the mother can have an abortion if the foetus in the womb happens to be a female. The rapid spread of these tests has resulted in sex selective abortions of hundreds of thousands of female foetuses.
The magnitude of the problem can be gauged by noting that Dr Sunil Kothari , who runs a major ultrasound and abortion clinic in Delhi, admit- ted to having performed 60,000 such tests during an interview on the BBC He declared with total conviction: “This is the best way of population control for India.” There are thou-
sands of doctors all over the country who are engaged in the same type of medical practice as Kothari – some operating openly and some in a clandestine manner…