Sex-selective abortion and the theory of identity : The case of India

Abstract

In this paper I shall inquire into the metaphysical underpinnings of the prohibition of prenatal femicide within the Indian cultural and legal milieu. Even though I choose Th e Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act and Th e Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques Act (amended in 2004 as Th e Pre-Conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques Act) as the commencing points of my study, I will develop neither legal nor anthropological analysis of the sex-selective abortion in India. My purpose is to present politico-philosophical implications of the legal solutions in question. Th e main thesis of my paper is the contention that metaphysical background theories that the prohibition of prenatal femicide is based on undermine the anti-discriminatory objectives of this prohibition; what follows, this anti-discriminatory legislation is then a contradiction in terms and for that reason ought to be abandoned.