No female foeticide, knowing sex or not

Last weekend, IMA president R V Asokan called for legalising prenatal gender detection tests. His argument: the ban, in place since 1994, unfairly targets medical practitioners, while the real issue lies in societal attitudes against the female child. He's right about it being a societal problem. But the key question is: has the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act of 2003 worked? If not, why?

Since the original 1994 law, India's sex ratio has improved. Overall, it's risen from 927 females per 1,000 males in 1991 to 1,020, according to NFHS-5 (2019-21). As for the sex ratio at birth, in 2015, the number of girls for every 1,000 boys was 918. This has risen to 934 in 2022. If India has not attained better numbers, it's because of the collusion of rogue doctors, prejudiced families and weak enforcement. But other influences have improved the sex ratio as well - rising education levels, political and economic incentives, and gender sensitisation. Considering these changes and the law being 30 years old, there's no harm in reassessing its effectiveness and exploring whether the challenge can be better addressed through other means, including leveraging the robust Mother and Child Tracking System (MCTS).

Two factors must be borne in mind if the ban is to be reassessed: one, integrity of doctors will still be crucial to prevent tests/assessments from being abused as grounds for medical termination of pregnancy (MTP); two, the need for robust tracking. This means incentivising all involved in the system to ensure that every loophole is plugged. While putting more pressure on families is acceptable, anyone attempting to bypass the system, including doctors, cannot be allowed to go scot-free.