BENGALURU : The arrest of a doctor, Chandan Ballal, and his lab technician Nisar, who allegedly conducted more than 900 illegal abortions over the past three years at a hospital in Mysuru, and the arrest of nine persons in the Byappanahalli police station jurisdiction in Bengaluru, for allegedly performing 242 illegal abortions in the last three months, have raised serious concerns over two issues -- both are anchored around women’s rights, or lack of them, over their reproductive health.
While there’s not much clarity on whether all these said illegal abortions were carried out after the sex of the foetus was disclosed to the couple by the radiologist, or because of other reasons, the incidents confirm that women lack authority or propriety over their own reproductive health.
Sex determination of the foetus is banned under the Preconception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act. Female foeticide is a criminal offence like dowry, but both these social evils continue to prevail because of a deeply ingrained patriarchal mindset, which considers a girl child not just a liability or burden but a commodity that needs protection by the male from the male, and ‘something’ that should be handed over to the male by the male for ‘safe’ use and keep. This convoluted thought nurtures patriarchy.
Ironically, it is women who are largely the pall-bearers of this self-inflicting, self-indicting and self-violating mindset. A woman is blamed, ostracised, violated and made to feel guilty, and a lesser woman for bearing a girl child, despite the fact that genetically, the Y chromosome that determines the sex of the male child comes from the father.
The X and Y chromosomes, also known as the sex chromosomes, determine the biological sex of an individual: females inherit an X chromosome from the father for a XX genotype, while males inherit a Y chromosome from the father for a XY genotype (mothers only pass on X chromosomes). In some instances, the mental trauma that a woman goes through for bearing a girl child and her own blighted life have resulted in cases of maternal filicide.
Female foeticide reflects women’s position in society, which still glorifies the birth of a male child and ‘legitimises’ motherhood despite the breaking of the glass ceiling, several progressive reforms (from increased political representation to inheritance, property and marital laws among others) and inclusive policies that acknowledge the other, besides the female and male genders. Female foeticide remains an alarmingly common practice in India, as evidenced by the national census in 2011 that indicated only 914 females for every 1000 males in the zero to six years age range.
“We know for a fact that female foeticide continues, with women being pushed into illegal and unsafe abortions. In the early 1980s-90s, Mandya was a hotbed of this evil practice because of its male dominated agrarian economy. In the early 70s, it was female infanticide. There were instances where girl children were killed by their families and made to look like an accident. Girls have traditionally been looked down upon as the weaker sex. With the advent of technology, ultrasound scans which are used to determine the health of the foetus started being used for sex determination and sex selective births. There were illegal clinics and nursing homes in Mandya bearing feminine names to sound women-friendly, but were actually illegal abortion centres,” said well-known women’s activist Donna Fernandes.
She added that though PCPNDT is a good law, it needs to be implemented.
EDITORIAL | Enforce law strictly on female foeticide
“There is so much moral and financial corruption and almost all stakeholders; from government health officers to scanning centres, nursing homes and doctors, who are part of this unholy nexus. Women are the victims of sex selective births. In some parts of the country it is difficult to get a bride because of a lesser number of girls of marriageable age. In other parts, a girl is sold to more than one prospective groom,” she claimed.
There is, however, a flip side to the campaigns against female foeticide.
“Very often we have seen that such campaigns make it difficult for women to access safe abortion,” said Associate Professor, National Law School of India University (NLSIU) Aparna Chandra. “In the process of the enforcement of the PCPNDT many legal and certified centres also get targeted, making it difficult for women to access safe abortion services,” she added. In India unsafe abortions account for around 10 percent of maternal mortality, Chandra had stated along with her fellow co-authors in a fact finding study - ‘Legal Barriers to Accessing Safe Abortion Services in India’ published by the NLSIU.