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FEMALE FOETICIDE IN THE WORLD : A PARADOX OF DEVELOPMENT - BY KABISHNA SENTHILKUMAR

INTRODUCTION 
Before diving deep into the practice of female foeticide worldwide, let me explain the clear definition of female infanticide and female foeticide. Female foeticide is the process of finding out the sex of the foetus and undergoing abortion if it is a girl and female infanticide is the practice of killing the girl child once she is born. However, both are prevalent in almost all the parts of the patrilineal societies of every continent. The son preference over the daughter is the main cause of such practices. In most patrilineal societies, the social norms such as inheritance passing on to the male offspring providing economic support, security in old age, performing death rites and also to continue the family lineage are the main reasons for the son preference. The one child policy in china and dowry system in South Asia acts as a catalyst for the highest male sex ratio at birth. The invention of new technology (i.e.) ultrasonography for pre-natal sex determination in 1980s, Reproductive tourism for the purpose of sex selection through In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) and other new technologies such as pre-implantation genetic screening(PGS), pre-implantation genetic diagnosis(PGD) and sperm sorting emerging as a next level challenge for the governments who are aiming to curb this practice.   
ROOT CAUSE OF SEX SELECTION AND COUNTER MEASURES BY THE GOVERNMENTS
CHINA
Chinese society is heavily driven by the Confucian values which are strongly patrilineal. The one child policy was introduced in china in 1980 in order to slow down the growing country’s population but it ended up creating huge gender imbalance. According to Health ministry of china in 2014, Doctors have performed 336 millions of abortions and 196 million sterilisations since 1971. According to population research institute, a non profit research group reports that at least 9,615,875 sex selective abortions had taken place in china in the years between 2000 and 2014. In the year of 2016 the one child policy was relaxed by the government of china. But it didn’t favour the improvement of female sex ratio. And it brought various laws as counter measures such as Article 32 of the law of the peoples republic of china on Maternal and Infant health care 1994 states that “sex identification of the foetus by technical means shall be strictly forbidden, except that it is positively necessitated on medical grounds”. Under Article 15 of Regulations on administration of technical services for family planning (2001) states that, “No institution or individual shall conduct foetal sex identification for non-medical reasons or artificial termination of pregnancy for sex selection”. It also enacted population and family planning law of the people’s republic of china (2002) as a counter measure to prohibit selective sex abortion and it also undertaken major campaign called “Care for Girls” campaign which  seeks to crack down two illegalities –  pre-natal sex determination and sex-selective induced abortion. Despite all those measures, china triumphs the world countries with highest male sex ratio at birth. According to United Nation population prospectus 2019, China ranked No.1 with highest male sex ratio at birth with 113 males per every 100 females.
AZERBAIJAN
Azerbaijan is the ancient city of Baku, which has the largest and the best harbour on the Caspian Sea. According to 2019 report by the United Nations, Both Azerbaijan and china are tied for the highest male sex ratio at birth with 113 male births per every 100 females. According to a 2012 report by Guttmacher institute, Azerbaijan has highest total abortion rate in the world. Between 2000 and 2009 almost 10 % of the potential female births didn’t occur due to parental sex selection. There are many sayings and proverbs that symbolizes patriarchal structure of Azerbaijan society. Some are related to having sons and indicate having strong son preference. For example, 32-year-old women in Baku refers to a proverb of “male may be considered man only when he has a son”. Even while blessing, the people often use “God bless your Son” instead of “God bless your children or Girls” which clearly indicates the stereotype among the people over the son preference. In 2013 the parliament of Azerbaijan was supposed to discuss a Bill to ban sex selective abortions. As per the Bill any women willing to undergo an abortion after the 12th week of pregnancy must have her case subjected to a medical commission that will decide whether the abortion has been sort on non – medical or for reasons related to this foetus sex. Unfortunately the Bill has not been passed yet.
VIETNAM
Vietnam shares more than a border with China. Both shares common cultural tradition and other traditional practices and its no wonder that it has a severe impact of Confucianism just like China. The patriarchal family system and the degree of son preference are the main reasons for the highest male sex ratio of Vietnam. In Vietnam Ultra sound and abortion services are legal and easily accessible but the identification of a foetus and selective sex abortion are illegal. The population ordinance 2006 and prime minister decree (2006) prohibits all practices of antenatal foetal sex diagnosis and sex selection. In 2009, the government of Vietnam destroyed 30,000 books and closed down 7 websites on traditional and modern methods for pre-conception and pre-natal sex selection because those were the recent factors responsible for the highest male sex ratio. Despite all those counter measures by the government still Vietnam ranked No.3 with 112 males per 100 female at birth. 
ARMENIA
In ex-soviet Armenia, female foeticide is very common. The majority of the people in Armenia were following Christianity. Armenia has the 3rd highest rate of abortions of a female foetuses in the world, a figure that rise sharply after the break up of the soviet union. In the year 2016, Armenia passed a law which prohibits selective sex abortion. The law which specifically prevents abortion without a doctors consent between 12 and 22nd weeks of pregnancy. It is during that time of gestation that child sex manifests itself. But the law didn’t works as it was intended. It lead to many illegal and unsafe abortions endangering women’s health. According to 2019 report Armenia occupies 4th place with 110 males per every 100 females at birth.
INDIA
According to 2019 report of United Nations, India occupies 5th place with 110 males per every 100 females at birth. According to the state of world population 2020 report released by the United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA) sates that India accounts for 45.8 million of the worlds 142.6 million missing females. UNFPA said that said that ‘missing females’ are women missing from the population at given dates due to cumulative sex selection in the past. The main reason for the current chaos is the stereotype of the people that only son will fulfil the wish of the family, financially support the family during the old age of the parents and also the males have inheritance rights over the father’s property. But now supreme court on Aug 8th, 2020 ruled that daughter’s have equal rights over Hindu family property. All Hindu women now have equal rights to their father’s property from 1956 which would give a positive impact on sex ratio at birth.  However due to the invention of new technologies and increased access to ultra sound imaging paved way for more selective sex abortions in India.This resulted in number of female foeticide than female infanticide in India. India had about 4,60,000 girls missing at birth each year. India also has the highest rate of excess female deaths (i.e) 13.5 per 1000 female births which suggest that an estimated 1 in 9 deaths of females below the age of 5 may be attributed to post-natal sex selection. The government of India had taken many counter measures by conducting campaigns and enacting laws. The campaign called “Beti Bachao  Beti- padhao” (which means save girl child and educate girl child ) was started by the Indian government in January 2015. India also enacted laws pre-natal diagnostic techniques (regulation and prevention of misuse )Act,1994 to address the  the sex selective abortions, Medical termination of pregnancy (MTP)Act in 1971 to regulate and ensure access to safe abortions (amended in 2002) abortions are allowed only in exceptional circumstances such as rape or if it involves any risk in continuance of pregnancy. Those who violate this provision will undergo rigorous imprisonment which shall not be less than 2 years and which may extend to 7 years under the IPC. But it didn’t reverse the tide but  in return, it gave rise to more illegal and unsafe abortions. There were about 6.4 million abortions taking place in India in which 25% were performed by incompetent abortion providers.
SUGGESTIONS
Though stringent measures were taken in the national level, the people who is fond of male child still finds a loophole to determine the sex of a child. In recent years with new technologies such as pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, pre-implantation genetic screening and sperm sorting were developed and promoted. With the advanced screening technologies doctors screening embryos for genetic disorders in order to select the best viable healthy embryos but the parents and doctors are misusing for sex selection. Reproductive tourism is also a emerging trend and paves way for sex selection and its becoming next level of challenge for the nations who wants to curb the practice of female foeticide and female infanticide. The United nation human rights council must provide guidelines to the member countries to uplift the status of women because we have to address the problems origin that is patriarchal mentality and widespread poverty and not its consequence. “If women and men were given equal opportunities, if women could be as successful as a men, as influential and as financially independent, no parent would distinguish having a son or a daughter” which is said by Anusha Poghosyan of the Yerevan based women resource centre.
CONCLUSION 
Despite all the measures taken by the government by enacting laws and conducting campaigns to curb the practice of female foeticide and female infanticide, it is us we should change in the first instance. The stereotype which is commonly prevalent in minds of the people should be removed. Parents should have belief in girl child. “once a daughter is always a daughter …son is a son till he is married” said by justice Arun kumar Mishra who was heading three judge bench while confirming the  rights of daughters having equal rights to Hindu family property. So girl child must also be loved and cherished just like male child. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, the many of the schemes which are benefiting girl children were halted for more than 6 months, so the additional 13 million girls may be forced into marriage and two million more girls may be subjected to female genital mutilation between now and 2030. So the government must take proper mitigation measures to counter such huge threats to girls in the future.



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