Exterminating Females In The Land Of The Tiger

India is missing 10 million daughters

NewScientist.com news service
Shaoni Bhattacharya

Over the last 20 years, about 10 million female fetuses may have been
selectively aborted following ultrasound results in India, suggest
Prabhat Jha at the University of Toronto, Canada, and colleagues.

Their study of 1.1 million households across India reveals that in
1997, far fewer girls were born to couples if their preceding child or
children were also female. “There was about a 30% gap in second
females following the birth of any earlier females,” Jha told New
Scientist.

When the firstborn child was a daughter, the sex ratio for second
children among the 134,000 births in 1997 was just 759 girls for every
1000 boys. For a third child, just 719 girls were born per 1000 boys,
if both the older children were girls. However, if the eldest children
were boys, the sex ratios for the second and third child were about
50-50.

Based “on conservative assumptions” the gap in births equates to about
0.5 million missing female births a year, says the team. Assuming the
practice has been common in the two decades since ultrasound became
widely available, this adds up to 10 million missing girls.

“Female infanticide of the past is refined and honed to a fine skill
in this modern guise,” says Shiresh Sheth of the Breach Candy Hospital
in Mumbai, India, in a commentary accompanying the study in The
Lancet.

Removing doubt
Sheth notes that in India’s patriarchal society, daughters are
regarded as a “liability”, as she will belong to the family of her
future husband.

Jha believes his study is the most comprehensive survey of India to
date. Previous work on the sex ratio has been more anecdotal and
focused on certain regions, he says. The new study shows the disparity
is across all parts of India, although it is worse in certain states,
for example, in Rajasthan, Punjab and Bihar.

“What’s also new is a more robust finding that the women at greatest
risk [of selective abortion] already had one or two earlier female
children,” he notes. “It helps remove some of the doubt that there may
have been underlying factors [explaining the deficit], for example,
hormonal factors.”

A surprising finding was that the disparity was about twice as large
in educated mothers, those with at least an Indian grade 10 education,
than in illiterate women. “Most things in health are worse among the
poor,” he notes.

Paid sex
Jha warns that the preference for boys is likely to have “profound
long-term consequences”. In China, the cultural preference for boys
and restrictions on family size are already having effects. Some
reports suggest there are 40 million bachelors unable to find brides.

But there could be other serious consequences, Jha speculates, such as
an impact on the spread of HIV. “If there are fewer females to marry
and form stable sexual partnerships then males may resort to the use
of paid sex,” he suggests.

Selective abortion on the basis of sex has been illegal in India since
1994. But there must be “diligence in enforcing existing laws, which
is not commonly done”, says Jha.

The study uses data taken from a nationwide project funded by the
Indian government called the “Million Death Study”, which is the
world’s largest prospective study on mortality, covering 14 million
people.

Journal reference: The Lancet (DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(06)67930-0)

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8551

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Way Back Jack wrote:
India is missing 10 million daughters

Pro-liars are missing hundreds of millions of brain cells.

--
Ray Fischer

(Ray Fischer) wrote in news:44c82c82$0$34569
:

Way Back Jack wrote:
India is missing 10 million daughters

Pro-liars are missing hundreds of millions of brain cells.


Maybe if the anti-choice loons would look in their own anal orifices, they
might just locate most of those "missing" brain cells.

In misc.kids.pregnancy Ray Fischer wrote:
: Way Back Jack wrote:
:India is missing 10 million daughters

: Pro-liars are missing hundreds of millions of brain cells.

: --
: Ray Fischer
:

You know, I don't usually post on the pro/anti abortion debate,
and it took me some time to figure out what your point was, since
you mistakenly seem to assume that is what this persons post was.

I don't think so. so I will post.

First, I will point out that the OPs comments were not against
abortion per se, but were against the selective use of abortion to
do gender selection. One can be for abortion and against using it
for gender selection.

I have heard stories about the kind of gender selections referenced
in this post, and I have to agree that it is a potential problem.
The process seems to be creating many more male children so that in
20 - 30 years, there will be a so many more men that they will not
be able to find wives. This is already a social problem in China,
and looks like it is becoming one in India. Trivializing it by
identifying it with the pro/anti abortion debate is a disingenuous
disservice!

Of course, we could just solve the problem by starting a huge war,
allowing only men to serve, and end it when the population balance
is restored. Why didn't the OP think of that?

Just my @.02
Larry

Who cares? The aborted female fetuses are spared a lifetime of
discrimination and abuse. And the young men will have a harder time
finding a bride, let alone one with a dowry. Karma happens, you see.
Way Back Jack wrote:
India is missing 10 million daughters

NewScientist.com news service
Shaoni Bhattacharya

Over the last 20 years, about 10 million female fetuses may have been
selectively aborted following ultrasound results in India, suggest
Prabhat Jha at the University of Toronto, Canada, and colleagues.

Their study of 1.1 million households across India reveals that in
1997, far fewer girls were born to couples if their preceding child or
children were also female. "There was about a 30% gap in second
females following the birth of any earlier females," Jha told New
Scientist.

When the firstborn child was a daughter, the sex ratio for second
children among the 134,000 births in 1997 was just 759 girls for every
1000 boys. For a third child, just 719 girls were born per 1000 boys,
if both the older children were girls. However, if the eldest children
were boys, the sex ratios for the second and third child were about
50-50.

Based "on conservative assumptions" the gap in births equates to about
0.5 million missing female births a year, says the team. Assuming the
practice has been common in the two decades since ultrasound became
widely available, this adds up to 10 million missing girls.

"Female infanticide of the past is refined and honed to a fine skill
in this modern guise," says Shiresh Sheth of the Breach Candy Hospital
in Mumbai, India, in a commentary accompanying the study in The
Lancet.

Removing doubt
Sheth notes that in India's patriarchal society, daughters are
regarded as a "liability", as she will belong to the family of her
future husband.

Jha believes his study is the most comprehensive survey of India to
date. Previous work on the sex ratio has been more anecdotal and
focused on certain regions, he says. The new study shows the disparity
is across all parts of India, although it is worse in certain states,
for example, in Rajasthan, Punjab and Bihar.

"What's also new is a more robust finding that the women at greatest
risk [of selective abortion] already had one or two earlier female
children," he notes. "It helps remove some of the doubt that there may
have been underlying factors [explaining the deficit], for example,
hormonal factors."

A surprising finding was that the disparity was about twice as large
in educated mothers, those with at least an Indian grade 10 education,
than in illiterate women. "Most things in health are worse among the
poor," he notes.

Paid sex
Jha warns that the preference for boys is likely to have "profound
long-term consequences". In China, the cultural preference for boys
and restrictions on family size are already having effects. Some
reports suggest there are 40 million bachelors unable to find brides.

But there could be other serious consequences, Jha speculates, such as
an impact on the spread of HIV. "If there are fewer females to marry
and form stable sexual partnerships then males may resort to the use
of paid sex," he suggests.

Selective abortion on the basis of sex has been illegal in India since
1994. But there must be "diligence in enforcing existing laws, which
is not commonly done", says Jha.

The study uses data taken from a nationwide project funded by the
Indian government called the "Million Death Study", which is the
world's largest prospective study on mortality, covering 14 million
people.

Journal reference: The Lancet (DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(06)67930-0)

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8551

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

wrote:
Ray Fischer wrote:
: Way Back Jack wrote:

:India is missing 10 million daughters

: Pro-liars are missing hundreds of millions of brain cells.

You know, I don't usually post on the pro/anti abortion debate,
and it took me some time to figure out what your point was, since
you mistakenly seem to assume that is what this persons post was.

I made no mistake. I am just tired of the usual pro-liar idiocy about
people who never existed being supposedly "missing".

[...]
I have heard stories about the kind of gender selections referenced
in this post, and I have to agree that it is a potential problem.

Every outcome is a "potential problem". Too few women has the
benefit of being most effective at constraining population growth.

When the proportion of women drops too low then the society will value
women more.

The process seems to be creating many more male children so that in
20 - 30 years, there will be a so many more men that they will not
be able to find wives. This is already a social problem in China,
and looks like it is becoming one in India.

The traditional solution to having too few women (and historically it
happened a lot), is to send the men off to die in wars.

[...]
Of course, we could just solve the problem by starting a huge war,
allowing only men to serve, and end it when the population balance
is restored. Why didn't the OP think of that?

It's been done.

--
Ray Fischer

wrote:
In misc.kids.pregnancy Ray Fischer wrote:
: Way Back Jack wrote:
:India is missing 10 million daughters

: Pro-liars are missing hundreds of millions of brain cells.

: --
: Ray Fischer
:

You know, I don't usually post on the pro/anti abortion debate,
and it took me some time to figure out what your point was, since
you mistakenly seem to assume that is what this persons post was.

I don't think so. so I will post.

First, I will point out that the OPs comments were not against
abortion per se, but were against the selective use of abortion to
do gender selection. One can be for abortion and against using it
for gender selection.

Ray Retard Fischer thinks everything is about "women's rights" - and
therefore
must be supported - even sex selection against preborn **females**! As
you can
see, he's the one missing brain cells.


I have heard stories about the kind of gender selections referenced
in this post, and I have to agree that it is a potential problem.
The process seems to be creating many more male children so that in
20 - 30 years, there will be a so many more men that they will not
be able to find wives. This is already a social problem in China,
and looks like it is becoming one in India. Trivializing it by
identifying it with the pro/anti abortion debate is a disingenuous
disservice!

Indeed.

However some pro-aborts are so fanatical they don't care what their
dollars
support. Fortunately we have President Bush to veto federal funding of
UNFPA,
an organization involved in these kind of abuses overseas, even as the
fanatics scream and stamp their feet.

So much about "pro-choice" is a lie, as farcical jackasses like Ray
Fischer consistently demonstrate.


Of course, we could just solve the problem by starting a huge war,
allowing only men to serve, and end it when the population balance
is restored. Why didn't the OP think of that?

Just my @.02
Larry