Advocates Petition India's Supreme Court To Prevent Web Companies From Advertising Sex-Selection Products

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: IT / Internet / E-mail
Article Date: 15 Aug 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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India's Supreme Court on Wednesday asked Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! to respond to a petition filed by advocates in the country claiming that the companies illegally advertise prenatal sex-determination products, AFP/Straits Times reports. In an effort to address widespread abortion of female fetuses because of a preference for male children, India bans tests that allow people to determine the sex of their fetuses (AFP/Straits Times, 8/13).

India in 1994 approved the Prenatal Determination Act, which bans the use of technology, such as ultrasounds and sonograms, for the purpose of sex-selective abortion. The law also bans advertisements for prenatal sex determination, as well as the practice of preconception sex selection. Since 1994, more than 400 cases have been filed under the law, resulting in only two convictions -- a fine of 300 rupees, or about $7, and another fine of 4,000 rupees, or about $98 (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 9/23/07).

According to advocate Sabu George, the petition against Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! "seeks to block these advertisements" by the three Internet companies, which "mak[e] a lot of money by doing highly targeted and selective advertising" of sex-selection products. According to Sanjay Parikh, a lawyer who lodged the complaint with the Supreme Court, advocates submitted the petition along with letters from the government indicating that the Internet advertisements are illegal. Parikh added, "The court has issued a notice to Google, Microsoft and Yahoo!" requesting that they respond to the petition. According to AFP/Straits Times, the Internet companies did not immediately respond to media queries about the case (AFP/Straits Times, 8/13).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

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