India Suspends Doctors Over Banned Fetal 'Sex Tests'
By Daily News,
Daily News
| 07. 17. 2012
Twelve Indian doctors have been suspended for allegedly conducting prenatal sex tests, a practice banned to stop the abortion of female fetuses that has widened India's gender gap, officials said Tuesday.
The physicians were suspended on Monday from practicing medicine following a court order, said Archana Johri, an official of the Rajasthan Medical Council watchdog.
"Five of the doctors were found guilty of sex determination practices while the remaining seven violated other provisions of the Pre-conception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques Act," she told AFP in Rajasthan state capital Jaipur.
In New Delhi, the Indian Medical Association condemned the alleged violations by the doctors in Rajasthan.
"It is a deplorable practice and we condemn it," Association Secretary D.R. Rai told AFP.
A study published last year in The Lancet said sex selection of fetuses in India led to 7.1 million fewer girls than boys up to age six, a gender gap that had grown by more than a million in a decade.
The 1996 law designed to prevent the use of ultrasound for prenatal sex tests is widely flouted in India...
Related Articles
By Keith Casebonne and Jodi Beckstine [with CGS' Katie Hasson], Disability Deep Dive | 07.24.2025
In this episode of Disability Deep Dive, hosts Keith and Jodi explore the complex interplay between disability science, technology, and ethics with guest Katie Hasson, Associate Director at the Center for Genetics and Society. The conversation delves into...
By Jessica Hamzelou, MIT Technology Review | 07.16.2025
Eight babies have been born in the UK thanks to a technology that uses DNA from three people: the two biological parents plus a third person who supplies healthy mitochondrial DNA. The babies were born to mothers who carry genes...
By Suzanne O'Sullivan, New Scientist | 07.09.2025
Rare diseases are often hard to spot. They can evade detection until irreversible organ damage or disability has already set in. Last month, in the hope of preventing just this type of harm, the UK’s health secretary, Wes Streeting, announced...
By Jessica Hamzelou, MIT Technology Review | 07.11.2025
The Walking Egg project is bringing IVF to rural communities in South Africa.
This week I’m sending congratulations to two sets of parents in South Africa. Babies Milayah and Rossouw arrived a few weeks ago. All babies are special, but...