Sex selection doctor jailed in India

A doctor in India and his assistant have been sentenced to two years in prison for revealing the sex of a foetus and then agreeing to abort it. This is the first time medical professionals have been jailed in such a case.
Under Indian laws, ultrasound tests on a pregnant woman to determine the gender of a foetus are illegal. It has been estimated that 10 million female foetuses may have been terminated in India in the past 20 years.
Government officials in Haryana state sent in three pregnant women as decoy patients to find out if the clinic would carry out abortions based on sex selection. Audio and video evidence showed the doctor telling one woman that tests had revealed that she was carrying a “female foetus and it would be taken care of.”
The president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), a grouping of doctors, Dr Vinay Agarwal said the convictions were “historical.”
“The medical profession is doing all it can though we have to address this as a social evil. People should be proud to have a girl child,” he said.
(Source: BBC News, 29 March)