Bengaluru: Health Minister Ramesh Kumar on Monday promised in the Council to look into the suspected case of attempted female foeticide, which resulted in the death of a woman in Koratagere near Tumakuru recently and punish the guilty.
Responding to Mr T. A. Saravana, who claimed that illegal sex determination tests were forcing women to terminate their pregnancies and demanded an end to female feoticide in the state, he said going by initial reports in the Tumkuru case it appeared that the doctor had recommended termination of the pregnancy. But the government was awaiting a report on the case, he added. Noting that only 193 of the 4,398 scanning centres, were run by the government, he said 76 cases had been registered against scanning centres in Karnataka between 2002 and February this year under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994. Of these, 37 were still pending disposal. Describing female feoticide as a social problem, he said it was difficult to contain it merely through the law. Only a change in people’s attitude could put an end to it.
