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More horrifying still, a recent Indian government report shows that none of the 216 births recorded in 132 villages from a northern Indian district are girls, leading local officials to suspect female foeticide. Of those, 16 villages have not recorded a single female birth since the beginning of the year, according to the district's magistrate Ashish Chauhan.
The increasing desire for smaller families is one cause of ongoing sex selection. For instance, women in India in 1970 had about 5.6 children on average, but by 2018 they were having just 2.3 children on average over their lifetimes. This has meant more women resort to sex-selective abortion to achieve their desired family composition.
The government of India has also long promoted population control policies which limit family size, and thus fuel the practice of prenatal sex selection. Six states in India currently have two-child policies that prohibit civil servants from having more than two children.
The practice of sex selection is commonly associated with poverty and countries where women do not have equal rights.
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