How much imbalance?
National average in 2011 census was 940 women to every 1000 men.
To make your case, show us the reference, and give some comparison points from other countries.
What case?
The case of what the data is showing us. Help us understand.
We know a lot of this is related to female infanticide because in the age 0-6 , the average ratio is around 919 girls for a 1000 boys.
It is accepted by the government of India that the reasons is a preference for boys over girls and resultant practices like infanticide/abortion of girls.
I can attach a press release by the government accepting the same. One positive is that the government/society acknowledges this as a problem and is working to correct it.
http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=103437
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One interesting consideration cross culturally.
Both Judaism and early Christianity were outliers in Roman culture in forbidding both abortion and infant exposure (the growth in Jewish population is attributed to it by some historians, and a good number of early Christian sources from the 1st century on make it both a foundational ethical teaching and an apologetic point.)
What interests me is that Christians and Judaean Jews at least were amongst the more economically disadvantaged, for the most part. So their ethical stand on it - like some others - was costly.
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All the practical debate is downstream of the question whether the fetus is a human being from the point of conception. If the answer is yes, and all human beings have an equal right to life, then the rest of the debate becomes pretty trivial. It seems the answer on all points is a pretty easy yes, regardless of religious persuasion.
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The answers is no, the fetus has the potential to be a human being but isn’t until it is viable to live outside the uterus.
Thinking purely in terms of scientific definitions (because it’s surely perverse to define a “human being” purely politically or legally), is it the “viability” or the"uterus" that defines the potentiality?
For example, if a fetus was incubated in an artifical uterus, would its humanity still depend on survival apart from the artificial lfe support?
If so, then non-viability from, say, adult polio that rendered artificial ventilation necessary ought to be a mark of cessation of humanity (and without the benefit of potential humanity, barring a new cure for respiratory paralysis). Or have we missed out part of the definition?
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Yes, that is what my son was in after being removed from my wife’s uterus at a gestational age of 22 weeks. Modern science and technology kept him alive. I considered him a human being at that time.
Adults are human beings and should be given all of the healthcare that medical science has to offer. In the case of polio, I find it immoral, unjust, and unethical that polio vaccines are not completely universal. To me, it is a failing of the modern world today if just one child gets polio. It should have been eradicated years ago, and I salute the Bill Gates Foundation for their efforts to eradicate polio from the planet.
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Now I’m confused. 22 weeks gestation is only viable in the sense that we have now the technology to substitute for the uterus. When I qualified, no fetus had ever survived that early… or not for more than a short time. So then a baby born at 22 weeks would be (albeit briefly) only a potential human being, and his parents would be in error to insist that he was a human being at the time. But that changed by the time you were a parent.
Meanwhile, over in India or in ancient Roman culture, parents abandoning an unwanted baby, knowing that it was not viable unless fed and warmed, were correct not to call him/her a human being according to the “viability” definition… but would be wrong nowadays because the law forbids it. Or have I missed another ethical subtlety?
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Well Jon that is why the abortion debate is so much more complex than people realize. In 1992, my wife was pregnant with our second son. Her pregnancy ran into trouble at week 13. She was hospitalize and her health (and the fetus’ health) deteriorated until in the 22 week of pregnancy (viability was 26 weeks at the time), a termination of pregnancy (an abortion) was done to save my wife’s life. My son was resuscitated and survived (Birth weight 416 grams) He was in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for 4 months. His development was not without problems but now he is 26 years old computer scientist and all around great guy.
So for me, the abortion debate is very real. I credited my non-beliefs to be able reason rationally in the situation that I found myself in. I considered myself very fortunate that my wife and my children were treated at one of the finest medical institutions in US with excellent doctors and nurses. It was science, technology, and human reasoning that allowed both my wife and my son to survive. Religion and Government intervention would clearly resulted in one of them or both not surviving. This is why I am adamant that religion and government stay out of people’s private lives.
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That’s an exciting story. I’m glad that it turned out so well and that the hospital cared enough to provide that experimental care for him! Thanks for sharing!
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That is an interesting and complex tale - and an unusual (numerically speaking) indication for termination. The other unusual thing is that (thanks be) somebody made the effort to resuscitate your son.
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It was the most terrifying experience of my life. No family should have to be in that situation. It worked out for my family but it is not something that any family should have to endure. We were extremely fortunate to have great care but our results are far from the norm, as my son was given a 10% chance to survive 72 hours. The medical staff made their own miracles. And I am forever thankful to them.
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My wife was slowing dying, BP 60/40 high fever infection of amniotic fluid. Fetus pulse 200+ malnourished by failing placenta. Emergency termination done. My wife requested a vertical C-section. Neonatology team brought in to attempt resuscitation. Decisions were all ours and very frightening. Most frightening day of my life.
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I can well imagine - much at stake, and much retrieved.
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yes, it is etched in my brain. All the details, all the numbers, everything that was happening. I remember a lot of people each with their job to do. The medical director of the hospital was called in, I remember him saying to our doctor, “Why are we doing a termination of pregnancy on a 22 week fetus?” Clear as day from the surgeon, “mother and child will not survive without C-section.” The Medical Director then asked Chief of Neonatology, “why is the whole neonatolgy team here?” Answer was “the father requested we attempt to resuscitate.” With that Medical Director left and everything played out. My wife was already under anesthesia at this time. Took all of three minutes to hear “baby’s out”. A half hour later, doctor came out to say my wife will be okay but would have to remain in hospital for awhile (turned out to be one month) . An hour later the Chief of Neonatalogy asked me to come to the Neonatal ICU to see my son. He looked marsupial, primitive looking, and not yet human. Twelve inches long, translucent skin, yellow eyes, facial hair.
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Your experience illustrates why these decisions should be made by the woman and her medical team, and not imposed by the state.
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