Letters to the Editor
-
@Laurel962
If there is anything that can be legislated in India, rest assured it has been done already. Dowry is illegal. So is sex determination during pregnancy.
The problem is that there is very little enforcement and you can always find a clinic that you can bribe to tell you the sex of the child. And a "no dowry" rule is something that can never be enforced.
I agree with the other poster that the issue is not abortion. The issue is the conditon of women. Hopefully things will change with education. Though I do personally know many educated employed women whose marriages involved dowry.
-
Is this what we call advancing?
Reading this article challenged my value assumptions a bit. I completely believe in women being able to have abortions for a variety of different reason. For example, if a woman was raped and became pregnant. Or if the family couldn't afford a child at that time. Or if they just didn't want to have a child!
Where do I draw the line, though? If somebody told me they had an abortion because their child would have been extremely handicaped or had an uncurable disease that would kill that child no matter what, I will have to be honest and say that I would think maybe that's a good thing. In India, maybe they see this in the exact same light. While I think it's horribly repulsive, it's encouraged in India.
-
@ Amerigo
You are right, it's about a woman's right to choose.
But I'm disturbed by these same pro-choicers then coming along and saying how some abortion choices are more valid than others, and then talking about 40 million "missing girls".
Excuse me, if you want to be consistent, you cannot talk about 40 million "missing girls", which implies that said girls ever existed. You have to talk about 40 million "missing blobs of red jelly that would have become girls" (that's how pro-choicers always talk about fetuses--as blobs of jelly).
You want women to have abortions for any and all reasons, and then--surprise!--abortion is used as a tool to destroy future generations of women and to discriminate against women.
Y'know, Indians have a word for that--it's called karma.
Yes women should have the right to choose--including the right to choose not to have a baby that would lead the same wretched second class life the mother has had to face. That choice is surely as legitimate a reason for abortion as any other I can think of.
Horrible reasons, difficult choices? Yeah, and this is the reason I use my birth control carefully.
-
This will bring us together
The side effect of this, and I have noticed this trend increasing, is that more and more Indian men will choose Western, especially American, women, for wives.
Jobs are still somewhat scarce in India, and many young men come to the U.S. for work. When they are here, they are no longer bound by the oppressive caste system. Even "low-born" men can find financial success, meet attractive women of an acceptable social class, and make marriages.
The upshot of this is that these American wives of Indian men will transmit our culture's more liberal, and (I dare to make a judgement), enlightened views towards women, to their children. Many of these couples will remain in America, contributing to the mixing of genes and cultures that tends to always integrate people into, and strengthen, a society. Those that choose to relocate to their husbands' homelands, will bring their values there, and contribute to the creation of a new culture in India.
-
Marriage age
My understanding is that this phenomenon also encourages younger marriage age for girls. So you don't necessarily have a population drop -- just ever-younger mothers who, by virtue of their age, have less power in their marriages relative to their older husbands.
-
Excess young men can become cannon fodder
Societies with a large excess of young men are more likely to go to war. That's a worry for me.
In the west, elderly parents who have daughters are considered more fortunate than those who have sons, because women tend to be more willing and capable care-givers. Perhaps we should start choosing daughters.
-
Good for them!
They are just celebrating their "right to choose". Who are you to judge them on their reason for their abortions? Stop being such a bigot and encourage abortion for ANY reason. It's all about women's rights you know, not the child.
-
tina schrier
If the motivations you cite were accurate, you might have a better argument. As it stands, they're but a small portion of the motivations and likely the least common motivations.
-
From an Indian woman
The preference for girls is especially marked in some states. So for the 10th time, I ask Broadsheet writers to look into the variations among Indian states. Why is the sex ratio fine in Bengal and a disaster in Punjab. Broadsheet brings this story up at least once a year -- I know we brown people are terrible human beings -- no exceptions!
From my personal experience -- when I found out I was having a boy, I cried for 3 days straight. I had always wanted a girl. I wouldn't trade my son for a 1000 girls, but having only one child, I still feel sad when I see girls his age or friends have a daughter.
-
WIZ BIZ
I've used a funnel type contraption made for women since the early 90's. Great for outdoor activities. What's the fuss?
-
Indians prefer boys
Let me just say now that I am anti-abortion, pro birth control!
Perhaps it's "nature's" way of controlling an out of control population. I'm just saying, that country has had a population problem for a very long time. Let's face it, less girls, less population. Then we should see the need for mixing with other cultures, clans, and races. Right?
If they want to preserve their culture they need to stop now with selective gender thing.
However, we know that it it a lack of education and superstition that will make that difficult for the culture to do so.
-
Abortion results in "missing girls"
This is one of the main arguments used by pro-life feminists. (They do exist, you know.)
-
Find the motive
If the motivations you cite were accurate, you might have a better argument. As it stands, they're but a small portion of the motivations and likely the least common motivations.
What are the most common motivations?