Sex selection practices are gaining increased visibility and criticism in India, where the sex ratio has declined significantly. According to The Telegraph the national ratio is 927 women to 1000 men and in some states is as low as about 800 women to 1000 men. According to the Hindu News, organizations such as the United Nation Population Fund, NGOS, human rights groups, and local governments are beginning to help prevent selective abortion on the basis of sex.
The issue has recently received increased attention because of the case of Dr. Mitu Khurana, who sued her in-laws, husband, and a hospital under the Preconception and Prenatal Diagnostic and Testing Act, which bans medical practitioners from determining the sex of a fetus and using this information to promote female feticide. Khurana was coerced into having an ultrasound by her husband and in-laws. They then attempted to force her to abort her twin daughters because they wanted male offspring, according to the News Blaze.
Chairperson of the Central Social Welfare Board, Prema Cariappa told the Telegraph, “All around the county, female feticide has become a serious issue, which needs to be tackled…The country has lost about [10 million] girl children to feticide in the last 20 years.”
