Women’s Empowerment and Son Preference in India: Feminist and Ethical Discourse on Sex Selective Abortions

Sex selective abortions are unjust, unethical and illegal in India, yet the experience of motherhood for pregnant women can be influenced by ’son preference’ from those who support female feticide. Women are denied agency in exercising reproductive rights and the medical fraternity often fosters the misuse of technologies for sex selective abortions in India. This book reviews the feminist, ethical and legal discourse on sex selective abortions and draws on women’s empowerment as an analytical lens to examine the son preference expressed in the notion of Vansh (lineage) among pregnant women, their partner s and mothers-in-law in three Indian states.

Sheela Suryanarayanan is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Women’s Studies, University of Hyderabad. She was invited by Rajya Sabha Surrogacy Committee, Government of India, to provide insight on the Draft Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill 2019 and her suggestions have been included in the Bill. She has published A Transnational Feminist View of Surrogacy Biomarkets in India (Springer Singapore, 2019).