Is it a boy or a girl ...Contd

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But the truth is...

. . . .that in this country hundreds and thousands of women and their families flock to gynaecologists, obstetricians and maternity clinics every day to find out the sex of their unborn baby...even as early as after 14 weeks of pregnancy. And a substantial number of them grimace when they realise that it's a female foetus. Often, they opt for a medical termination of the pregnancy. Though couched in very convenient, medical terminology, the whole process comes dangerously close to being called by a shameful name - female infanticide

Statistics that shock

Would you be shocked if you heard that every sixth girl child's death in India is due to gender discrimination?* The statistics is still suspect because most cases go unreported. No strata of Indian society can boast of being absolutely free of prejudices against the female child and the tables and pie charts in HRD, NGO and welfare reports are proof of this.

For every 1000 boys, there are just 929 girls in India.* It's a skewed sex ratio, thanks to a general inclination towards the male child in traditional India. Thousands of foetuses are being killed every year in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh. Contemporary cases of female infanticide can be traced in parts of western Gujarat, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Lacking law

The yawning gap between the sexes is growing each year with the spread of gender testing technology. Sonogram clinics crowd most cities. There are also doctors who take the machine into rural areas for quickie scans and inevitably, terminations. The law has officially banned gender testing, but the practise is still prevalent. And the loopholes in the law ensure that the practice flourishes.

Doctor's counsel

"I absolutely do not encourage this practise because it leads to female infanticide," says Dr Sheila Haldipur, consultant - obstetrician and gynaecologist at Ravi Kirloskar Memorial Hospital, Bangalore. Having been confronted very often with cases where the patient herself or her family wish to know the sex of the child so that they can terminate the unwanted female foetus, Dr Haldipur says that she tries to reason out with such people that a girl is just as good as a boy in today's world. "I don't spare them the lecture," she says, making a faint attempt at humour. "Unfortunately," she continues, "there are people adamant on knowing the sex of their child. . . and worse, there are doctors willing to terminate an unwanted foetus."

Tests and methods

There are various methods of finding the sex of your baby before birth.
The most common test is the scan. It is non-invasive (does not harm the foetus) and inexpensive.
Amniocentesis is performed after nine weeks and for diagnostic purposes after 18 weeks of gestation. The tests take about two to four weeks to run. There is a small chance that the sex they tell you is incorrect.
Chorionic Villus Sampling (CVS) is a diagnostic test usually performed between eight and 11 weeks of gestation, sometimes even after 13 weeks. "I doubt if anybody actually goes in for a CVS for it's an invasive procedure," says Dr Haldipur. The CVS miscarriage rate is at about 4%. Recent studies indicate that if the CVS is done before 10 weeks of gestation there is an added risk of limb deformity. There is a small chance that the sex they determine is wrong as well.
Set aside the controversies. If you are expecting, ask your heart. Would you like to know the sex of your child before its birth? Or would you just wait for the stork?

* Source: Website of CRY (Child Relief and You)