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Abortion rules to get stricter
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: A high-level meeting convened by the Prime Minister’s Office on Friday to consider urgent strategies to tackle sliding child sex ratio will look at the possibility of making abortions subject to checks like mandatory counselling and medical advice.
Government studies of the alarming data on the state of the girl child thrown up by the 2011 census found that India’s no-questions-asked abortion policy, while being pro-choice and an empowering option for women, was being misused to legally abort female fetuses.
Victims of a “son philosophy”, women are pressured to go in for abortions after illegal scanning show a female child. This was aggravating the effect of illegal abortions carried out by unscrupulous doctors or quacks after the first trimester of pregnancy.
The census figures for the overall sex ratio and child population in the 0-6 age group revealed girls were subject to a double-whammy. Females were not only aborted before birth but were also victims of prejudice after birth. Girls were discriminated against with regard to nutrition, medical attention and general care as compared to male children.
While government is keen to implement the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act that makes sex determination a crime more strictly than is the case, it is looking at innovative strategies to address the unbroken decline in India’s sex ratio since 1961.
The PMO meeting, to be attended by ministries of women & child development, health and information & broadcasting, is expected to discuss measures like offering mandatory counselling to women or couples who seek abortion. This would be a nonintrusive aid to judge the reasons why abortion is being sought. It is also felt that persons seeking abortions — particularly married couples — do not always know that terminating pregnancies can have an implication for future conception.
BID TO CURB FEMALE FOETICIDE
• 2011 census showed abortion policy misused to legally abort female fetuses
• The govt is looking at innovative strategies to address the unbroken decline in India’s sex ratio since 1961
• PMO meeting expected to discuss measures like offering mandatory counselling to persons who seek abortion
Abortion rules to get stricter
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: A high-level meeting convened by the Prime Minister’s Office on Friday to consider urgent strategies to tackle sliding child sex ratio will look at the possibility of making abortions subject to checks like mandatory counselling and medical advice.
Government studies of the alarming data on the state of the girl child thrown up by the 2011 census found that India’s no-questions-asked abortion policy, while being pro-choice and an empowering option for women, was being misused to legally abort female fetuses.
Victims of a “son philosophy”, women are pressured to go in for abortions after illegal scanning show a female child. This was aggravating the effect of illegal abortions carried out by unscrupulous doctors or quacks after the first trimester of pregnancy.
The census figures for the overall sex ratio and child population in the 0-6 age group revealed girls were subject to a double-whammy. Females were not only aborted before birth but were also victims of prejudice after birth. Girls were discriminated against with regard to nutrition, medical attention and general care as compared to male children.
While government is keen to implement the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act that makes sex determination a crime more strictly than is the case, it is looking at innovative strategies to address the unbroken decline in India’s sex ratio since 1961.
The PMO meeting, to be attended by ministries of women & child development, health and information & broadcasting, is expected to discuss measures like offering mandatory counselling to women or couples who seek abortion. This would be a nonintrusive aid to judge the reasons why abortion is being sought. It is also felt that persons seeking abortions — particularly married couples — do not always know that terminating pregnancies can have an implication for future conception.
BID TO CURB FEMALE FOETICIDE
• 2011 census showed abortion policy misused to legally abort female fetuses
• The govt is looking at innovative strategies to address the unbroken decline in India’s sex ratio since 1961
• PMO meeting expected to discuss measures like offering mandatory counselling to persons who seek abortion
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