Apparent increase in selective abortions of girls in India

January 01, 0001

Apparent increase in selective abortions of girls in India

India's 2011 census revealed a growing imbalance between the numbers of girls and boys aged 0—6 years, which the researchers postulated was due to increased prenatal sex determination with subsequent selective abortion of female fetuses. They aimed to establish the trends in sex ratio by birth order from 1990 to 2005 with three nationally representative surveys and to quantify the totals of selective abortions of girls with census cohort data. They assessed sex ratios by birth order in 0.25 million births in three rounds of the nationally representative National Family Health Survey covering the period from 1990 to 2005. They estimated totals of selective abortion of girls by assessing the birth cohorts of children aged 0—6 years in the 1991, 2001, and 2011 censuses.

The conditional sex ratio for second-order births when the firstborn was a girl fell from 906 per 1000 boys in 1990 to 836 in 2005; an annual decline of 0.52% (significant). Declines were much greater in mothers with 10 or more years of education than in mothers with no education, and in wealthier households compared with poorer households. By contrast, the researchers did not detect any significant declines in the sex ratio for second-order births if the firstborn was a boy, or for firstborns. Between the 2001 and 2011 censuses, more than twice the number of Indian districts (local administrative areas) showed declines in the child sex ratio as districts with no change or increases. After adjusting for excess mortality rates in girls, our estimates of number of selective abortions of girls rose from 0—2.0 million in the 1980s, to 1.2—4.1 million in the 1990s, and to 3.1—6.0 million in the 2000s. Each 1% decline in child sex ratio at ages 0—6 years implied 1.2—3.6 million more selective abortions of girls. Selective abortions of girls totalled about 4.2—12.1 million from 1980—2010, with a greater rate of increase in the 1990s than in the 2000s.

The researchers concluded: "Selective abortion of girls, especially for pregnancies after a firstborn girl, has increased substantially in India. Most of India's population now live in states where selective abortion of girls is common."

The medical profession is involved in the process.

For the full abstract, click here.

The Lancet 377(9781):1921-1928, 4 June 2011 © 2011 Elsevier Limited
Trends in selective abortions of girls in India: analysis of nationally representative birth histories from 1990 to 2005 and census data from 1991 to 2011. Prabhat Jha, Maya A Kesler, Rajesh Kumar et al. Correspondence to Prabhat Jha: [email protected]

Category: W. Pregnancy/Childbirth/Family Planning. Keywords: trends, selective abortion, girls, India, analysis of census data, journal watch.
Synopsis edited by Dr Stephen Wilkinson, Melbourne, Australia. Posted on Global Family Doctor 24 June 2011

Pearls are an independent product of the Cochrane primary care group and are meant for educational use and not to guide clinical care.