Female Foeticide – A Sociological Perspective

Abstract

Female infanticide is not uncommon in Indian society, and is still prevalent in certain parts of the country. With the advancement of modern technology its practice, however, has taken a different shape. Now it is possible to detect the sex of the baby when it is still in the womb of the mother. This has made it possible to abort the female foetus, if it is unwanted. The most commonly used sex determination test is amniocentesis. Discovered primarily for the detection of foetal malformations, it has, over the years, been used to determine the sex of the foetus. In India, since 1978, the test is being used as a sex determination or sex preselection test. Since then, the test has become extremely popular and has led to a mushrooming of private clinics, which perform the test, all over the country. The seriousness and social implications of this practice were realised only in 1986.