Prenatal Sex Determination and Gender Bias: Awareness and Attitudes Among Pregnant Women in South India.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: There persists a strong gender preference for the male child in India, despite socioeconomic development. Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act was introduced in 2002, with the main purpose of preventing misuse of diagnostic techniques in sex selection and sex-selective abortion. The present study primarily aimed to determine the proportion of pregnant women who are aware of prenatal sex determination and the PCPNDT Act, and the proportion of women with gender preference for the unborn child among pregnant women attending an outpatient facility attached to a medical college hospital in Mangalore, South India. Secondarily, this study aimed to assess the perception regarding prenatal sex determination, the PCPNDT Act, and preference to know the sex of the unborn child among the participants, and to determine the factors associated with awareness of prenatal sex determination, the PCPNDT Act, and gender preference.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was conducted among pregnant women who visited the antenatal care facility attached to a medical college hospital in Mangaluru. Convenience sampling was used to enroll participants into the study. A predesigned and pretested proforma was used to collect data via Epicollect5 (Oxford, UK: Oxford Big Data Institute, University of Oxford). Categorical variables were summarized as proportions and percentages, and multiple logistic regression was used to calculate confounder-adjusted estimates.

RESULTS

A total of 169 antenatal women who fulfilled the eligibility criteria were enrolled in this study. The proportion of pregnant women who knew about prenatal sex determination was 42.0%, and 15.4% knew about the legislation that prevents it. A total of 36.6% of pregnant women had a gender preference for the unborn child, while 27.8% preferred to know the sex of the unborn child.

CONCLUSIONS

In this study, only a small proportion of women knew about the PCPNDT Act, while the preference for a specific gender and the willingness to know the sex of the unborn child were higher. The findings underscore the need to address the intersection of socioeconomic limitations and cultural preferences around gender preference and prenatal sex determination through targeted strategies for at-risk groups.