India marks ‘National Girl Child Day’ against selective abortions

(Jan. 25, 2012) As India marked its third ‘National Girl Child Day’ on Tuesday, a member of Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life said “One in 13 girls does not survive beyond six years of age.” Dr. Pascoal Carvalho said that this day is a reminder of the urgency to protect girls from selective abortions and female infanticide. He told AsiaNews “All forms of discrimination and violation of the rights of the girl child need to be eliminated, within and outside the family.”
The current United Progressive Alliance government set aside this day in 2009. The chosen date corresponds to the day in 1966, when Indira Gandhi became India’s first woman prime minister. The Catholic Church celebrates the same event on 8 September, the Nativity of Mary.
“With the introduction of ultrasound and amniocentesis, tens of thousands of female foetuses were never born. The tests were “originally designed for detection of congenital abnormalities of the foetus,” said Dr Carvalho, who is also a member of the Human Life Committee of the Archdiocese of Bombay. He remarked that now, they are being misused to know the sex of the foetus with the intention of aborting it, if it happens to be that of a female.”
In order to stop such abuses, the government passed the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Technologies Act, which include penalties for anyone, doctor or parent, who carries out such tests for this purpose. “Yet, even though the law is a powerful instrument of change, it alone cannot root out this social problem,” said Dr Carvalho. He noted that girls are devalued not only because of economic considerations but also because of socio-cultural factors. Beside the government, the Catholic Church has also taken steps to protect the rights of girls. In 2010, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India adopted a gender policy with strategies to protect and promote the rights of girls.