A Study of Sex Selective Abortion and Role of Judiciary to Protect Unborn Child in India

Abstract

In a situation where son preference is present, this article examines whether boys receive preferential prenatal care. We highlight sex-selective prenatal investments as a new avenue via which parents can engage in discriminatory behaviour using micro health data from India. We discover that when expecting a boy, mothers go to antenatal clinics and get tetanus injections more regularly. Preferential prenatal treatment of males is more prevalent among women whose prior children were female and in areas where substantial son preference is known to exist. Other processes, such as sex-selective abortion-related reverse causation, son preference-based fertility halting regulations, selective recall, medical difficulties that would make male babies generally receive more prenatal care, and sex-selective abortion-related medical issues are all successfully ruled out.