Foeticide means ending the life of a human fetus. Female foeticide is the abortion or eradication of the female child by surgical termination. In countries like India, China, Pakistan, etc. female foeticide is very frequent. It has become a disgraceful truth of our country. Such a practice has resulted in a rapid decline in the sex ratio. It is one of the grave social issues of our country. Many women surrender to such illegal practices due to the family as well as societal pressure. On the other hand, many women go for such immoral practices of their own accord. One of the major reasons behind female foeticide is the patriarchal mindset of our society where a girl child is considered as a liability due to the evil practice of dowry. In Indian society for ages there has been a preference towards male child over females.
With the advancement of technology, it has become very easy and clear to find out whether the fetus is male or female. Unfortunately, some unethical medical practitioners are involved in doing sex determination tests which is illegal in our country. Later when the parents get to know that the fetus is female, they abort the child in the womb itself. In India, in the maximum number of cases these people are able to escape due to inadequacy in the law. As per Pre Natal-Diagnostics Techniques (PNDT) Act, the couples who go for abortion of the female fetus, as well as the doctor who performs it, are committing a crime. According to the act these people are liable to strict punishment or fine. However, all these legal provisions have received poor enforcement.
Gradually, however, the thinking of our society towards the girl child is changing. This thinking came with women proving themselves in all professions, many of which were earlier considered to be the exclusive domains of men. Awareness among people has increased regarding the right to equal opportunity. But still, such horrific practice has not fully ended. It will take time to change the mindsets of many people in both rural as well as urban areas. In some rural areas, female foeticide turns into female infanticide because people cannot go for sex determination tests. In female infanticide, a girl child is killed after birth. The girl child is ruthlessly killed by poisoning, strangling, dumping in garbages. In urban areas, people are well settled as compared to rural people so they go for ultrasound tests and if the fetus is female they go for Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP).
This atrocious act must be abolished for which first its root cause must be terminated which is the patriarchal mindset of people where men are given more preference. An attitudinal change is must to get rid of such evil practices. Both males and females have an equal right to live. To bring this change practices like dowry, female unemployment, child marriage and caste discrimination must be prohibited. A girl child must not be considered as a burden as they are the one who gives lives to us.
Aishwarya Says:
I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.
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