India: maximum sentence for doctors giving sex-determination tests
November 02, 2009
In an unprecedented development, two doctors in India have been handed the maximum prison sentence-- three years-- for violating a ban on diagnostic tests leading to sex-selection abortions.
The two doctors had advertised in a weekly magazine, promising special treatment for couples that "want a boy." A Mumbai court found them guilty of violating a law enacted to discourage sex-selection abortions.
Although abortion is not legally restricted in India, the nation's laws prohibit sex-selection abortions and also bar sex-determination tests done to facilitate that procedure. These laws have been enacted because, as a result of heavy pressure to limit family size and strong cultural preferences for male children, India has begun to see a strongly skewed ratio of male-to-female babies. In some parts of the country today there are fewer than 800 girls born for every 1,000 baby boys.
In May, a doctor who had been charged with giving illegal sex-determination tests committed suicide.
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