The ultimate form of family planning?
BMJ 2003; 327 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/sbmj.0310384 (Published 01 October 2003) Cite this as: BMJ 2003;327:0310384
- Susmita Barman, third year medical student1
- 1Calcutta
When the red and gold sign advertising a glut of diagnostic tests available at a private clinic disappeared, it never occurred to me that the health department had closed the clinic down. Neighbours told me that the doctors at the clinic had been secretly doing ultrasonography to determine the sex of fetuses and helping abort those that were female.
Rising ratios
The closure of the clinic coincided with a news headline outlining the decision taken by the West Bengal government to implement the newly amended Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1994. The act bans determination of sex and imposes fines and imprisonment on doctors who reveal the sex of a fetus to parents.1 Concerned at the increase in the male to female …
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