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Witness History: Campaigning against sex-selection in India

Documentaries

Campaigning against the abortion of girls in India

02/11/2022 GMT

Campaigning against sex-selection in India

BBC World Service - Witness History, Campaigning against sex-selection in India

A first-hand account of the 1980s campaign against the sex-selective abortion of girls

Manisha Gupte describes how she campaigned against sex-selective abortion of girls - a trend which emerged in the 1980s with the use of pre-natal sex determination tests.

Over the last 50 years an estimated 46 million girls have been aborted in India. 

The cultural preference for boys and the development of pre-natal sex determination tests like ultrasound in the 1980s, meant an increase in the number of girls being aborted.   

Activist Manisha Gupte describes how she campaigned, as part of the feminist movement, against sex-selective abortion - including the use of sit-ins and rallies - eventually raising enough awareness to bring about a national law in 1994 - the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act.

The legislation has had limited effect in a complex society with entrenched male preference and poverty.

Manisha has been speaking to Josephine McDermott. 

(Photo: Campaigners rally against fetal sex selection in Mumbai in the 1980s. Credit: Dr Vibhuti Patel)

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