Patil Sworn In As India's First Female President; Vows To Empower Women, Reduce Sex-Selective Abortion, Infant Mortality

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Abortion;  Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 31 Jul 2007 - 15:00 PDT

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Pratibha Patil, who was sworn in as India's first female president on Wednesday, said she would fight for women's rights and called for an end to sex-selective abortion and infant mortality, AFP/Middle East Times reports (Roche, AFP/Middle East Times, 7/25). According to the AP/Guardian, Patil was appointed to the "largely ceremonial post" by Sonia Gandhi, leader of the governing Congress Party (Rabinowitz, AP/Guardian, 7/25).

According to a UNICEF report released in December 2006, about 7,000 fewer girls than expected are born daily in India, and about 10 million fewer girls than expected were born in the past 20 years. The most recent Indian census figures found that the gender ratio decreased from 947 girls per 1,000 boys to 927 girls per 1,000 boys from 1991 to 2001.

The country in 1994 approved the Prenatal Determination Act, which bans the use of technologies, 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. Minister for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhury earlier this month announced that the Indian government is planning to create a national registry of all pregnancies and abortions performed in the country in an effort to curb sex-selective abortion and infant mortality.

The government would like to have public and private health centers, hospitals and maternity homes in the country to record pregnancies and abortions. The government also aims to increase the number of health workers who will locate and provide care to pregnant women in rural areas (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 7/16).

India "must banish malnutrition, social evils, infant mortality and female feticide," Patil said Wednesday. She added, "Empowerment of women is particularly important to me, as I believe this leads to the empowerment of the nation" (AP/Guardian, 7/25). According to AFP/Middle East Times, the prime minister holds executive power under the Indian Constitution, but the president is involved in forming national and state governments (AFP/Middle East Times, 7/25).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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