Posted on 12/30/2006 6:58:57 PM PST by pinkpanther111
Lawmakers and women's rights activists raised an alarm Monday over new evidence indicating about 7,000 fewer girls than expected are born each day in India, where women routinely suffer discrimination and parents often abort female fetuses.
The spread of ultrasound technology allowing parents to find out the gender of their unborn children has resulted in the large-scale 'disappearance' of girls here. One study released earlier this year estimated that 10 million fewer girls were born here than expected in the past 20 years.
The government must 'rise in revolt against the male child mania,' said lawmaker Gurudas Dasgupta during a parliamentary debate Monday.
The debate was spurred in part by a report last week from UNICEF, which estimated that 7,000 girls go unborn each day in India, where abortions are legal and a ban on finding out the sex of unborn children and aborting female fetuses is widely flouted.
The result is a skewed gender ratio - many districts in the country of more than 1 billion people routinely report only 800 females born for every 1,000 males.
According to the latest census figures in India, the number of girls per 1,000 boys declined from 945 to 927 between 1991 and 2001.
In China, where there is a similar preference for male offspring, official figures show 117 boys are born in China for every 100 girls, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
China bans the use of ultrasound or other means to determine the sex of a fetus, but doctors who do so usually face only administrative penalties, not criminal charges. The situation in India is driving activists to demand the government declare a 'national emergency' and take tough measures to enforce existing laws.
'It is truly a state of emergency and the government has to act,' said women's rights activist Ranjana Kumari.
UNICEF's report included dire warnings about the social fallout from the skewed gender ratio - girls getting married at younger ages, dropping out of school and dying earlier after being forced bear children when they are too young. It could also result in more violence against girls and women, UNICEF said.
The government says it is clamping down on doctors who tell parents the sex of their unborn children and abort female fetuses. But in more than a decade, only one such doctor has been convicted, and some senior officials acknowledge tougher action is needed.
'Female feticide should be treated as a crime and not just a social evil, therefore stringent punishment and punitive action is required,' said Renuka Choudhury, India's women and child development minister.
Indian families traditionally have preferred boys, partly because of the widespread Hindu religious belief that only a son could perform the last rites when his father dies. In addition, girls are seen as a burden on the family, requiring a huge dowry that many families cannot afford. They are generally the last to be educated or get medical treatment when ill.
Choudhury said the government was planning to offer incentives to village councils that worked to change such discriminatory attitudes.
But as India's ponderous bureaucracy cranks up for a nationwide awareness campaign, non-governmental organizations, student groups and civil society organizations have already taken up the task to publicly explain the urgency of the issue.
In recent weeks, hundreds of students, both men and women, have held demonstrations and candlelight vigils in many cities to create awareness.
'It's a message we hope to take to the people - invest in girls, realize their value, help them realize their potential, let them live,' Kumari said.
And full-size dolls...
Yes. 40 million of them, for a population a fourth of that of India.
If America were as populous as India, that means 160 million Americans are missing.
http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/aboramt.html
Over 40 Million Abortions
in U.S. since 1973
There have been more than 40 million abortions in the twenty six years since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized unrestricted abortion on January 22, 1973.
Except when noted, the following statistic(see link above) are based on research published by the Alan Guttmacher Institute, special research affiliate of Planned Parenthood Federation of America--the nation's largest provider and promoter of abortion. Estimates for 1997 and 1998 are based on trends from previous years.
In the past, AGI has estimated a possible 3-6% rate of underreporting.
The pro life community really needs to get fired up about this issue.
Sex selection abortion in the United States is legal!
Sex selection abortion is illegal in China and India.
People are starting to come to the US for the procedure.
This is another easy win on the abortion issue with more significant ramifications than partial birth abortion.
I know this because I civilized my hubby, who was considered quite hopeless at one time. : )
You're both lucky, it doesn't always work out that way.
Their governments have one and only one reason to want all of those extra men - military service. An unbalance like that is extremely dangerous, as it will allow those countries to produce huge armies. IIRC, human wave assaults originated in that part of the world.
Will gay marriage solve that problem?
/sarc
I'm really not trying to change the subject. The problem is abortion though. What they are doing is wrong and consequences are showing but it seems kind of hypocritical for America to act shocked though.
Pro-lifers constantly bring attention to the fact that abortion is a Pandora's Box; for some strange reason, the pro-abortionists miss the obvious even when it hits them square in the face.
....so what we have now is a group of people who essentially want to preside over a selective process regarding abortion. The worst thing of all is that they think they'll be able to control it.
Playing Devil's advocate, abortion is completely at odds with the concept of propagating one's species. There is no way around it.
It's not a crime, it's a women's right to choose.
Seems to me the REALLY smart parents would have lots of girls ... they're gonna be in high demand some 20 years from now.
Maybe judges in this country should offer prostitutes the choice of going to jail or going to China/India where they can have an unlimited customer base.
You have wrong ideas about India. Female genital mutilation is solely a Muslim "custom" and primarily in Africa. Not done in India. Maybe a few Muslims, but I've never heard of it done there. Maybe an Indian freeper can chime in here.
Bride burnings are certainly a lot more common in news stories than in India.
Many people have a lot of misconceptions about India.
I'm reserving any comment pending a belated sarcasm tag.
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