NEW DELHI, India—In a nation where unborn baby girls are routinely aborted because of a preference for sons, recent changes in Indian law seek to reduce the problem of female feticide.

But the big test will be its implementation in a country of more than a billion people, where a government policy discourages families from having more than two children.

With the amendments, passed on the last day of the Indian Parliament's winter session Dec. 20, the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act of 1994 has gained the teeth it lacked from its inception.

The act now bans medical-equipment firms from selling ultrasound machines (used for sex-determination tests) to clinics not recognized by the government. It bans advertisements for sex-determination tests and mandates states to set up special boards to monitor any violations of the act. It also doubles the fine for those carrying out sex-selection procedures to 100,000 rupees (about $2,085).

Prenatal diagnostic techniques such as amniocentesis and sonography are “useful for detection of genetic disorders,” said federal health minister Shatrughan Sinha. But he introduced the new measures because those techniques are misused “on a large scale to detect the sex of the fetus and to terminate the pregnancy of the unborn child if found to be female,” he said.

Two weeks earlier, parliament amended the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1971 to increase the penalty for illegal abortions from two to seven years of imprisonment.

Both amendments come in the wake of growing concern over the sharp decline in the female sex ratio among children under age 6 in several areas—with fewer than 800 girls compared to 1,000 boys in many areas—as recorded in the decennial national census in 2001.

The widespread preference for male children in India—rooted in a preference for sons sanctioned by Hindu scriptures and exorbitant dowry demands for the marriage of women—has led to a mushrooming of thousands of clinics that thrive on female feticides. The number of abortions in India is estimated to be about

17.7 million, including 6.7 million that are chemically-induced. “We are very happy that finally, the government is taking up this issue seriously,” said Father Alex Vadakkumthala, secretary of the health commission of the Catholic bishops' conference of India. “Any law to strengthen the protection to the life of the unborn is a welcome step.”

However, when asked whether the latest amendments would help curb the rampant practice of female feticide, Father Vadakkumthala replied that “much would depend on how these [amendments] are implemented.” Though India has several progressive laws that ban dowry, child labor and even smoking in public places, he noted, these laws are hardly enforced.

“On the one hand, the government is trying to combat the female feticide, which is rooted in gender bias,” Father Vadakkumthala pointed out. “On the other hand, the government is actively promoting the ‘two children’ policy, which is one of the main reasons behind female feticide.”

Attitude Change

Acknowledging that India has many good laws for women, Virginia Saldanha, secretary of the Indian bishops' conference's commission for women, also pointed out that “a wide gap exists between the legislation and its enforcement.”

“What is most important is the change in social attitudes—the only thing that can bring about change in favor of women. As long as people believe that having a son is necessary, they will do all they can to ensure that they have a son,” added Saldanha, who is also the executive secretary of the Women's Desk of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conference.

As a result of the government's active promotion of the two-children-per-family norm, Saldanha said, “couples accept one girl, but subsequent conceptions of females are aborted.”

Ancient Indian sages taught that a father cannot attain moksha (salvation) unless he had a son to perform his last rites. Such religious sanctions rendering the girl child “unwanted” subsequently gave birth to the dowry system, reducing her to an economic liability for the family.

Due to strong opposition from a coalition of women's groups, the Delhi state government backtracked on legislation that would have penalized and denied large families their fundamental rights.

But similar legislation is already in force in states such as Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, denying families with more than two children the right to vote and run for municipal offices or obtain housing loans, government jobs and admission in government-run educational institutions.

Even illiterate people have methods for female feticide and infanticide. Tribals know how to tell the gender of pregnant women and administer a mysterious “fruit juice” to women likely to give birth to a girl. They also know that an infant daughter can be killed by stuffing her mouth with “black salt”—potassium chloride—or lacing her milk with a pesticide, tobacco paste or grains of paddy husk.

The inclusion of a clause in the latest amendment making it legal for women over 35 to seek sex-determination tests shows the “duplicity” of the government, Saldanha said. The message seems to be “we want you not to go for female feticide but if you are keen on it, wait; we have a way out for you,” she said.

And with the corruption that exists in India, especially in the medical field, she said the amendments would lead to prosecution of a few, “but those who can afford to bribe will survive, and it will be business as usual.”

“What India needs desperately is a strong advocacy campaign at every level against the all-pervasive gender bias,” Saldanha said. “Unless the discriminatory attitude against women—treating them as unwanted liabilities—changes, female feticide will remain a social menace here.”

Anto Akkara writes from New Delhi, India.