Kerala - Thrissur   

Women's panel for law to curb female foeticide

By T. Ramavarman

THRISSUR, JAN. 25. The State Women's Commission (SWC) has suggested introduction of a law to curb the rise in female foeticide in the State.

The SWC chairperson, M. Kamalam, who was here to attend a workshop on the problems of aged women, told The Hindu that the Commission had already prepared a draft proposal in this regard and that it was being submitted to the Government.

Ultrasound scan

According to her, there is a growing tendency in the State to terminate pregnancy after determining the sex of the foetus through ultrasound scan.

There has been a tremendous increase in the number of scanning centres in the State from about 110 to about 900 in the last couple of years, she said.

Ms. Kamalam said that as per information collected by the Commission last year, the number of girls was only 926 for every 1,000 boys among newborns in the State.

Those who seek such abortions, and doctors and hospitals that encourage them should be punished.

Such abortions should be permitted only if the pregnant mother had severe health problems. There should be strict monitoring of the mushrooming of scanning centres, she said.

Alarming increase

Health activists have expressed doubts over the authenticity of reports of an alarming increase in female foeticide in the State.

They said that there was no credible evidence for it. Referring to reports that the number of boys among newborns was higher than that of girls, health activist K.R. Thankappan of the Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies, Thiruvananthapuram said: "All over the world, boys outnumber girls at birth. It is a biological phenomenon. A sex ratio of 105:100 at birth is an accepted figure across the world. We need to worry only if it reaches over the 110:100 level. There is no evidence of the ratio having crossed that level in the State."

Adoption

The former Vice Chancellor of the Kerala University, B. Ekbal, who is also a health activist, said that even while looking at adoption figures, it could not be said that Kerala society had a bias against girls. Nearly 70 per cent of the adopted children were girls, he said.

``But in Kerala, even as per the latest census figures the sex ratio is 1000-1058 for the population as a whole. It is interesting to note that among all the countries in the world, only the Russian Federation has a higher percentage of female population," he said.

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