Policing pregnancies is not the way
914. However, over 2015 and 2016 the sex ratio has declined to 899 because of the lack of focus on the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994 by the present State government. The sex ratio at birth has been increasing in Haryana and Rajasthan also thanks to the aggressive prosecution of doctors, under the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Programme of the BJP government.
While discrimination against the girl child existed and infanticide was known, the march of technology has made it easier and clinical to eliminate the girl child before birth. Until the last decade, the most important cause of missing girls in India was delib- erate neglect after birth, but today, it is sex selection before birth.
UP and Bihar, the states with the largest number of births, will largely decide whether in the next decade there will be an upturn in favour of girls. Given the lack of deterrence against sex selection in these states, the impact will be felt in a further decline of sex ratios in the country.
This is not to make a case for banning all abortions but rather a case to end discrimination against women at large. It is tragic that this country has no law prohibiting discrimination based on sex; similar to the one for HIV/AIDS recently passed by the Parliament. The Public Accounts Committee of the Legislative assembly of Maharashtra has just announced that in all cases foetal sex be determined and pregnancies monitored till delivery. Apart from being a complete violation of the right to informed consent, which is part of the right to health, it is a gross violation of the right to privacy in decisions of the most intimate kind.
Policing pregnant women is not the solution to the problem. On the contrary, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 allows abortion under certain conditions. The new proposal can also have dangerous communal overtones.
Political parties can facilitate a favourable environment for girls, if they avoid polarisation of our society. We need to get our national priorities right for the reversal of sex ratios to normalcy.