Abortions Target Girls

Its an controversial issue when it comes to abortion and the SMH has just reported the new findings of researchers, sourcing British journal The Lancet, with the claim that girls in India are the main target. These researchers have taken to estimating the loss of the birth of half a million girls in India each year as a result of the familial values of having a boy to carry on the family name. It also draws on the fact 'many people in India regard daughters as a liability because... the custom of paying dowry to the groom's family forces many families into debt'. So it seems that this issue is not just centred around medical and traditional gender issues, but also finance and education.

The ABC website also reported this story, publishing a transcript of a discussion on their radio station. It is a much more comprehensive report in comparision to the SMH, as it draws on additional personal stories and activists in the face of abortion. It appears that it is a ridicule not to have a son and that the social implications beset by the birth of one is enormous. Interestingly, the story touched on a point suggesting that 'the practive of sex selection is both illegal and widespread'.

It was difficult to dig up many articles on this particular issue - News Limited, once again lacking anything to do with something so 'irrelevant' - but Yahoo! News Australia has an article regarding this sex selection debacle. It's written in a similar tabloid nature to that of the Daily Telegraph, but makes mention of the source of the story - the United Nations Population Fund - unlike the other articles. The information is more or less similar to the other articles, although included are much more 'controversial' quotes, such as '"I will kill other children if they are born girls," by a woman living in poverty.

It's a complex issue regardless of which way you look at it, drawing many of its ideas from gender and moral boundaries. Its probably no surprise that boys are favoured over girls, as socially, they are on much more higher ground in this patriarchical society. Furthermore, it seems that in underdeveloped countries such as India, the social stance of being a girl is of greater difficulty as they are expected to submit to traditional ideas of their gender and are therefore more of a liability to the family involved.