Sex-Selective Abortions, Fertility, and Birth Spacing

Abstract

Previous research on sex-selective abortions has ignored the interactions between fertility, birth spacing, and sex selection, despite both fertility and birth spacing being important considerations for parents when deciding on the use of sex selection. This paper presents a novel approach that jointly estimates the determinants of sex-selective abortions, fertility, and birth spacing, using data on Hindu women from India's National Family and Health Surveys. Women with eight or more years of education in urban and rural areas are the main users of sex-selective abortions and they also have the lowest fertility. Predicted lifetime fertility for these women declined 11 percent between the 1985-1994 and 1995-2006 periods, which correspond to the periods of time before and after sex selection became illegal. Fertility is now around replacement level. This decrease in fertility has been accompanied by a 6 percent increase in the predicted number of abortions during the childbearing years between the two periods, and sex selection is increasingly used for earlier parities. Hence, the legal steps taken to combat sex selection have been unable to reverse its use. Women with fewer than eight years of education have substantially higher fertility and do not appear to use sex selection.

Birth Spacing and Fertility in the Presence of Son Preference and Sex-Selective Abortions: India's Experience Over Four Decades

“…for sons, the result was a dra matic increase in the male-female ratio at birth (Arnold et al 2002;Das Gupta and Bhat 1997;Guilmoto 2012;Jayachandran 2017;Pörtner 2015;Retherford and Roy 2003).…”

“…Sex com po si tion prox ies for son pref er ence and the use of sex selec tion, which are both unob served. 1 In the absence of sons, sex selec tion appears to increase with lower desired fer til ity and higher par ity (Jayachandran 2017;Pörtner 2015). Thus, for a given par ity, birth inter vals should lengthen sub stan tially over time for women with no sons, for women with lower desired fer til ity, and for those with bet ter access to sex selec tion.…”

Globalization and Violence against Women: The Missing Girls of India

“…Pörtner (2014) showed, using data from the National Family and Health Surveys, that the number of abortions increased by 6 per cent after sex-selective abortion became illegal in India. Sex-determination tests were introduced in India in the 1970s; it was majorly used by the dairy industry to determine the sex of cow foetuses (Patel, 2011).…”

“…Running a sex-determination and sex-selective abortion centre proved to be a profitable business, and as it was legal to run such a business, billboards stating ‘Invest Rs 500 Now, Save Rs 50,000 Later’ were not that rare (Kusum, 1993). In the backdrop of the illegalization of sex-selective abortions, the findings of Pörtner (2014) about the rise in foeticide cases after 1994 are intriguing. Numerous other reports on female foeticide maintain that such cases are on the rise in recent years.…”

“…Pörtner (2014) further shows that the use of sex selection among less educated women is much less than among their educated counterpart. Several districts of urban India show lower child sex ratios than their rural counterparts (Central Statistical Organization [CSO], 2012).…”