Amniocentesis and Its Statutory Ban

Amniocentesis is a prenatal diagnostic test that was developed to catch a genuine medical problem: chromosomal abnormalities in a developing foetus. In practice, however, it does something else at the same time — it reveals the foetus's sex — and that side effect has turned a useful diagnostic tool into a serious social problem.

In a country where small-family norms combine with a strong cultural preference for sons, learning early that a foetus is female has, in far too many cases, led directly to its abortion. This is female foeticide, and it is one of the reasons India's female population has fallen at an alarming rate relative to males. Because the harm from this misuse is so much larger than the convenience of using amniocentesis to learn a baby's sex, the Government of India imposed a statutory ban specifically on using amniocentesis (and related techniques) for sex determination — while carefully leaving its real diagnostic purpose, detecting chromosomal disorders, untouched. This targe …