12 million girls aborted in India over last 30 years

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_india_abortions_girls

Up to 12 million girls aborted in India over last 30 years:study

By Tan Ee Lyn – Tue May 24, 6:34 am ET

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Up to 12 million girls were aborted over the last three decades in India by parents that tended to be richer and more educated, a large study in India found, and researchers warned that the figure could rise with falling fertility rates.

The missing daughters occurred mostly in families which already had a first born daughter. Although the preference for boys runs across Indian society, the abortions were more likely to be carried out by educated parents who were aware of ultrasound technology and who could afford abortions.

"The number of girls being aborted is increasing and may have reached 12 million with the lower estimate of 4 million over the last three decades," said lead author Professor Prabhat Jha at the Center for Global Health Research in Toronto, Canada.

"The logic is families are saying if Nature gives us a first boy, then we don't do anything. But if Nature gives a first girl then perhaps we would consider ultrasound testing and selective abortion for the subsequent children," he told Reuters in a telephone interview on Tuesday.

Jha said the preference for boys in Indian society remains firmly in place and the reason why abortions of female fetuses were occurring more among richer and educated parents was because they could afford to do so.

"The preference for boys doesn't differ between rich and poor, it is similar. But the means to ensure a boy is greater among the educated and the rich," Jha said.

ABORTION OF GIRLS MAY INCREASE WITH LOWER FERTILITY

Jha and his colleagues, who published their study in The Lancet, said abortion of girls in India was different from the situation in China, where a one-child policy results in even abortions of the first girl.

"In India, we don't see that yet and there is no required one-child policy. But the concern is that if urban women decide they only want one child, then this practice may spread from second or third child to the first, so this is a future risk that we have identified," Jha said.

Jha's team analyzed data from three national health surveys conducted over different time periods from 1992 to 2006, where over 300,000 mothers between the ages of 15 to 49 were interviewed for their birth history.

The researchers also analyzed data of three cohorts of children born from 1990 to 2005.

They found the sex ratio for the second child in homes where the first born was a girl fell to 836 girls for every 1,000 boys in 2005, from 906 to every 1,000 boys in 1990.

"There were 4 million to 12 million selective abortions from 1980 to 2010 and just in the last decade, about 3 to 6 million, so the problem is increasing," Jha said.

India enacted a law in 1996 to prevent the use of scanning for prenatal sex determination and selective abortion of girls but Jha said it was very difficult to enforce because of a huge unregulated private medical practice.

"Until the government brings health reforms in place and brings doctors into a publicly financed accountable system, it's difficult to go that route," he said.

[^_^ 5,021]

Yup this is why it is now illegal to do gender prediction ultrasounds there. It's a huge problem.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Yup this is why it is now illegal to do gender prediction ultrasounds there. It's a huge problem.

People there are going to pay off doctors and do it on the sly. Backwards and stuck in a time warp.

[Danno 1,228]

Yup this is why it is now illegal to do gender prediction ultrasounds there. It's a huge problem.

I

I take it the whole "It's a womans decision alone" thing has not caught on over there?

[^_^ 5,021]

I

I take it the whole "It's a womans decision alone" thing has not caught on over there?

Different country, different cultural challenges. The challenge there, which has been the bread and butter of social activist groups for generations, is getting society to not look at baby girl as a burden/liability. It is a huge challenge and all the progress made so far has been limited to urban households with higher education levels. The great unwashed are yet to be convinced. This is one of many reasons I have never bought into the BS of India being a "player" on the world stage. It takes a lot more than successfully running an IT services sector. How a nation treats its most vulnerable is, in a way, the only indicator that truly matters. And on that count India is epic fail.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

People there are going to pay off doctors and do it on the sly. Backwards and stuck in a time warp.

fixed the tense.

[Krikit 1,165]

Post violating the TOS, and those quoting it, have been removed.

[The Dude 206]

Post violating the TOS, and those quoting it, have been removed.

No administrative action? I would think by now, the post in question would be quite indicative of a pattern....

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Different country, different cultural challenges. The challenge there, which has been the bread and butter of social activist groups for generations, is getting society to not look at baby girl as a burden/liability. It is a huge challenge and all the progress made so far has been limited to urban households with higher education levels. The great unwashed are yet to be convinced. This is one of many reasons I have never bought into the BS of India being a "player" on the world stage. It takes a lot more than successfully running an IT services sector. How a nation treats its most vulnerable is, in a way, the only indicator that truly matters. And on that count India is epic fail.

Well said and I agree.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Yup this is why it is now illegal to do gender prediction ultrasounds there. It's a huge problem.

So a woman should be able to choose to have an abortion, but not WHY? She can choose to kill her baby but only if she doesn't know the gender? Hpw do feminists feel about this...oh, NM. Yet, here in the US where we are more civilized, we have states passing laws REQUIRING ultra-sounds before an abortion can be performed.

In case you ever wonder why I think the government should stay the hell out of the abortion business.

Different country, different cultural challenges. The challenge there, which has been the bread and butter of social activist groups for generations, is getting society to not look at baby girl as a burden/liability. It is a huge challenge and all the progress made so far has been limited to urban households with higher education levels. The great unwashed are yet to be convinced. This is one of many reasons I have never bought into the BS of India being a "player" on the world stage. It takes a lot more than successfully running an IT services sector. How a nation treats its most vulnerable is, in a way, the only indicator that truly matters. And on that count India is epic fail.

So no choice for women in India?

[^_^ 5,021]

So no choice for women in India?

If that's your takeaway from this thread, I'm afraid your reading comprehension deficiencies are more serious than previously estimated.

[scandal 951]

How a nation treats its most vulnerable is, in a way, the only indicator that truly matters. And on that count India is epic fail.

AJ - How, in your estimation, does the US fare on this scale?

(serious question)

[^_^ 5,021]

AJ - How, in your estimation, does the US fare on this scale?

(serious question)

There is room for improvement, but it does well. Between Medicaid, housing assistance, jobs programs, the public school system, etc. the safety net is much more meaningful although I am led to believe it does not approach the levels that exist in Europe. In India, at the very bottom, there is nothing (in practice).

[scandal 951]

There is room for improvement, but it does well. Between Medicaid, housing assistance, jobs programs, the public school system, etc. the safety net is much more meaningful although I am led to believe it does not approach the levels that exist in Europe. In India, at the very bottom, there is nothing (in practice).

Thank you. I'm inclined to agree with you - both on what exists, and on what does not.

I gather both of us look with concern at the impending budget cuts we know must be coming, and at the salivating on the Right who look with glee at the prospect of dismembering these programs.

[^_^ 5,021]

Thank you. I'm inclined to agree with you - both on what exists, and on what does not.

I gather both of us look with concern at the impending budget cuts we know must be coming, and at the salivating on the Right who look with glee at the prospect of dismembering these programs.

In Third World countries, wealth concentrates at the top. That's what they want. Not that we're not already like that but they won't rest until the suburbs are strewn with tenements and the guys at the top have even more and can do even more. See the recent moves by the GOP in Maine to legalize child labor. That's a preview of attractions to come.