Causes
* as the cost of marriage and dowry has increased, daughters are now a financial liability
* one’s status in society is higher, in a house with sons
* Globalisation: a son would go abroad to work, thereby increasing the status of the family, which is perceived to have higher income
* Socio-cultural fabric of society: a son is raised to carry on the family name, support parents in old age and perform funeral rites when they die; a daughter cannot do this as she lives and becomes a part of her husband’s family
* Poverty
* Illiteracy
* Preference for the male child
* Difficult to protect the chastity of a girl before marriage
* Women – want to please their husbands and in-laws (a woman’s worth is measured by her ability to produce sons and she loses value & respect of her family, on bearing a daughter)
* Girls are consumers, rather than producers
* Inflation
* Post marital problems faced by the girl
* Denial of property to the girl child
* To keep the girl child population in check
* A bad investment; parents raise the child and pay for her up-bringing while the in-laws bear the fruit
Legal Provisions
Until 1970, the provisions contained in the Indian Penal Code (IPC) governed the law on abortion. The Indian Penal Code 1860 permitted ‘legal abortions’ done without criminal intent and in good faith for the express purpose of saving the life of the mother. Liberalisation of abortion laws was also advocated as one of the measures of population control. With these considerations, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act was passed in July 1971, which came into force in April 1972. This law was conceived as a tool to let the pregnant women decide on the number and frequency of children. It further gave them the right to decide on having or not having the child. However, this good intentioned step was being used to force women to abort the female child. In order to do away with...