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Loading...Missing In India – Six Million Females
Women in India are increasingly aborting their second child if they know it to be a girl and they already have a daughter, according to a study published today in the Lancet.
Up To 6 Million Girls Aborted
Scientists estimate that up to 6 million girls have been aborted in India over the past decade by couples who do not want a large family and are determined to have a son. The practice is more widespread among wealthier and better educated Indian families, who are better able to afford the prenatal tests and medical intervention they want.
The Pre-Natal Diagnostic Technique Act was passed in India in 1996, precisely to prevent this happening: the act outlawed ultrasound scans that identify the sex of a fetus. Apparently this has not worked.
In India, 7.1 Million Fewer Girls Than Boys Under Six Years Old
From The Guardian:
“It is unlikely that this act has been effective nationally because few health providers have been charged or convicted,” write the authors, Prof Prabhat Jha from the University of Toronto and colleagues from India, including the former registrar-general of India, Dr Jayant Banthia. “We are not surprised by this lack of prosecution given that most primary care is with unregulated private providers.”
This year’s Indian census revealed that there are about 7.1 million fewer girls than boys under the age of six. The gap has grown substantially since the 2001 census, which found 6 million fewer girls, and the 1991 census, 4.2 million fewer.
(…)
The authors estimate that between 3 million and 6 million girls were aborted from 2000 to 2010. Over the 30 years from 1980 to 2010, there could have been as many as 12 million abortions of girls.
Worldwide, Over 100 Million Girls Aborted
Last year, I wrote here about the over 100 million missing women – that’s the number Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen came up with in 1990, referring to the number of females aborted, killed or neglected to death in China, South Asia, West Asia and North Africa.
And now these very specific details about what’s going on in India.
Female Infanticide In The 21st Century?
This is horrible news for women and women’s rights. A policy that dictates the aborting of female fetuses seems unthinkable in the 21st century; yet not only is the practice in place, it is actually growing.
All countries need to raise the value of girls, and do whatever it takes to slow down and stop this horrifying female infanticide.
Related Story:
Female Fetuses Aborted At Highest Rates Ever In India
Read more: abortion, amartya sen, education, female infanticide, india, misogyny, the economist, womens rights
Photo Credit: handmaidenbymaria via Creative Commons
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+ add your ownSo men have now decided to commit suicide....................and we women win, no harm to the male population but women will always get a man.
Have people become so ignorant that they can't see the long-term ramifications in all this?
Sad...
The more countries continue doing this, eventually the human population will die off, and in the meantime, less men will find love, more women will get raped, violence will probably go up (as guys will be fighting over women), less children will be born, and i wouldn't put it past people to start selling women (even more than they already do).
@Sandra B.
I don't think that you have thought out your statement fully. There are more implications to selective abortions. When the time comes for men to marry and there aren't enough females, men will resort to kidnapping and rape.This has already been predicted in India in the next 20 years. The abuse of women will never end.
You are a woman and I am shocked at your "Ha, Ha".Because you live in a country with nothing to fear, I guess you think it's funny. You're lucky you don't live in India or you could have been a selective abortion.
This may end up in huge problems in some decades when all those young men want a wife. I wouldn't be surprised if they started having bride prices instead of dowrys in some decades.
Very sad story and im glad i was never put in that position
Interesting.
@ Tamara Huggins
Haha.. sure you state the obvious "there will be less new children....with less new children, a smaller and smaller population.", BUT (!!!!) ... ever heard about such thing as OVERPOPULATION? It simply means there will be less resources (all types.. water, food, land etc.) for the future generations.
Maybe it is not such a bad thing after all? ;)
These people don't think about the long term implications of their actions. With less females, there will be less wives available...with less wives, there will be less new children....with less new children, a smaller and smaller population.
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