India to jail families who coerce women into abortions

Entire families of women who abort a female fetus could be jailed for up to seven years under an Indian government move to ease the pressure for male children.

The initiative is an attempt to halt the growing gender imbalance in India where girls are considered a financial burden and families fear the cost of paying illegal but common dowries when they marry.

Campaigners believe up to eight million unborn girls were aborted in India in the last decade, while UN figures show that female infants are twice as likely to die in India before the age of five. The number of girls born per thousand boys has declined from 976 in 1961 to 914 in 2011, according to census statistics.

Current laws to prevent 'sex selection' and female feticide, clinic doctors who perform the operations or the ultrasound tests to determine whether the sex of the fetus face punishments ranging from a 1000 Rupee fine (£12) to three years imprisonment.

But in the last ten years only 463 people have been prosecuted and the government's Ministry for Women and Child Development wants to turn the focus on the family networks which put pressure on women to abort unborn girls.

A senior ministry official, who asked not to be named, said the government wants all those who pressure a woman into having an abortion to bear the punishment.

"It is important to make families equally accountable. The families go to clinics performing sex selection tests, so logically they initiate the process of sex selection and female feticide. We are seeking amendments in the present law to make families equally liable for the offence," she said.

"Nothing has been decided but it is likely there will be a jail sentence between 6 months to 7 years. The jail term will depend on whether the family was just involved in sex selection or both selection and subsequent abortion of the fetus," she added.

The ministry's proposals have now been sent to the Law ministry for detailed drafting but campaigners have already voiced their fears that the proposals will leave women even more vulnerable and doubly victimized.

Ranjana Kumari of the Council for Social Research said pregnant women already suffer intense harassment, and sometimes violent attacks, from the husbands and in-laws they live with, to have ultra-sound sex determination tests and abortions. Under the new proposals for collective punishment they will also be blamed by their husbands' families if they are prosecuted.

"This should be looked at with great care. The woman is blamed for producing a female child. She faces discrimination, desertion and to some extent violence. So to talk about punishing the family is a risky proposition. The mother will be blamed because she is the one who has gone for abortion. She will be threatened by her family and husband – who will you criminalize? It is very difficult to establish. The women will get the blame and be penalized," she said.

"The fundamentals of female empowerment will be absolutely tampered with," she said. "Control over our own bodies is a fundamental right for women," she added.

Courtesy: Daily Telegraph