Pre-natal test law being violated rampantly

The lackadaisical attitude of the state in constituting the district-level advisory committees to monitor the implementation of Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 2002 (earlier known as Pre-Natal Sex Determination Test Act-1994) has resulted in rampant violation of the Act, according to a member of Central Implementation and Monitoring Committee on PC and PNDT Act Dr Varsha Deshpande.

The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act 1971 and the PNDT Act, 1994, now amended and known as the Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 2002 seek to regulate and prevent the misuse of prenatal diagnostic techniques and medical malpractices which lead to planned abortions of the female foetus. There is little evidence that suggest that laws relating to termination of pregnancy and prenatal sex selection have been effective in reducing the sex selective abortions in India. Law has not been able to achieve the intended results.

Dr Varsha expressed concern over the highly skewed sex ratio in Karnataka and said the state ranks 11th in sex ratio with 968 females per 1,000 males. "There have been large scale illegal abortions in the absence of proper mechanism to monitor the implementation of the Act. If this trend continues Karnataka will be like Punjab where the sex ratio is 893 females per 1,000 males," she said.