The BBC is reporting a story about abortion in India, and the preference for having male children over female ones. With the possibility now of determining a child's sex before birth there is a relative increase in the number of abortions (foeticide) and even infanticide of baby girls as opposed to male abortions. This is leading to a greater number of male children under 6 years old. The main reason is that male children attract a large dowry for the family upon marriage. A similar situation has arisen in China where there is a preference for male children.
See India's unwanted girlsIt will be interesting to see how this impacts upon the whole question of the ethics of abortion generally.
1 comment:
Yes, it's a moral question for the Pro-Death brigade only in as much as it's a gender issue. Tres selfish: the feminists would not be heard from if the dowry went the other way and males were being wiped out.
BTW, when I was in India 20 years ago there were ads on telegraph poles and on railway stations for abortion clinics with arrows pointing the way to where they were. The price? About a quid.
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