Female feticide in India: Issues & Concerns

The desire to exercise control over the sex of offspring is widely held, and various cultures and communities utilize a variety of folk practices to ensure the conception and birth of a child of the desired sex. Traditional societies in India, for example, have elaborate folk techniques for conceiving sons while couples in industrialized countries may use a variety of in vivo peri-conceptual techniques to influence the sex of the conception. However, it must be realized that sex-determination was ‘misuse’ of genetic technology, implying that the identification, followed by the elimination of fetuses with physical or mental challenge through new reproductive technologies was the only legitimate use of this technology.