Disclaimer: Sex determination is illegal and a punishable offense under the Pre-Conception (PC) and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT) Act, 1994.
“After having three daughters, my husband would get drunk and threaten to divorce me if I did not give him a son,” says Delhi-based Pushpa (name changed to protect privacy). Then one day, 11 years later, when tests revealed a male fetus, she was relieved. Family pressure reduced.
This was in 1993, a year before the bill banning sex determination was passed. Parliament felt the need to make a law on this when it was repeatedly found that people sometimes commit female feticide due to medical examination for gender. In the 1991 population census of India, the sex ratio was 929 females per 1,000 males.
A little more than 30 years later, the family’s internal prejudices found their voice again, as one of Pushpa’s daughters gave birth to sons, and the other to daughters.
“Daughters are wonderful, and everyone knows sex selection is wrong,” she says, but also admits that she would like to have grandchildren. Pushpa, now 61, has worked in a crèche in Delhi for 34 years, so she has seen several generations of parents. She notes a change: “Couples don’t talk as openly as they used to about liking a son, but they still talk about it behind closed doors.”
Behind closed doors, millions of women of childbearing age spend hours on the Internet trying to find out the sex of their baby. One such woman, who is 18 weeks pregnant, comments on a video of an influencer talking about the ‘signs’ of a male fetus. “If you feel lazy, it’s a child;” “If your partner isn’t gaining weight, it’s because they’re having a baby,” the influencer says. “Mam, I too have the same symptoms. I already have a daughter. Please pray for a child,” the woman writes in the comments section in Hindi.
In January 2025, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare wrote to states and union territories, drawing attention to the growing problem of online promotion of gender determination. It asked them to list URLs on e-commerce and social networking websites that promote this practice.
The ministry is responsible for the implementation of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994.
The video of the same influencer, which displays the alleged symptoms of the boys, is in the list of 45 website links submitted by the Delhi Health Department to the ministry. This video, created by a woman sharing tips for pregnant women, is one of the most viewed videos with over 14 lakh views.
Doctors and other health professionals say that gender determination videos are non-scientific. They can be a threat to health and safety, leading families to terminate pregnancies through illegal means, which can be dangerous for the woman.
In 2020, the UN Population Fund, the sexual and reproductive health agency of the United Nations, released a report that found that of the world’s 142.6 million “missing women”, 45.8 million were in India.
millions of views online
Of the Delhi government’s list of 45 such website links, five are links to books on Amazon, two are websites, and the remaining 38 are YouTube videos made by influencers, religious or spiritual leaders, and some even by people claiming to be medical doctors. Religious leaders ask people to chant certain mantras “to have a son”. Some videos are no longer available.
An influencer sharing videos on health and lifestyle creates a video by zooming in on an ultrasound report, which gets 12 lakh views. A radiologist’s video on gender identity got 1.7 lakh views. A fertility expert talks about how the position of the placenta in the uterus can determine the sex of a fetus, viewed 3.2 million times. Another gender prediction video made by a pregnant woman, based on ‘signs’ such as whether the mother’s foot size has increased, and whether she has a sugar craving, has received over 1.5 million views. One book on this list is on the Education section of the Kindle.
A senior Delhi Health Department official says the Center is taking steps to remove the website link. “The problem is that as soon as we remove one link, almost immediately another one pops up. When we write to the platforms or social media sites, they shrug their shoulders and say it’s the responsibility of the content creator or author.”
Both Google and Amazon say they will review the link to check whether the content violates their guidelines. neither of them came back The Hindu Even after a week with any additional information.
maintaining a harmful mindset
“These videos with millions of views are mostly watched by individuals and families who prefer sons. While some may watch it out of curiosity, other viewers may also attempt to terminate a pregnancy using home methods, and this poses serious health risks,” says Rizwan Parvez, coordinator of Girls Count, a national coalition of 300 organizations working to address the skewed gender ratio.
He says that while much of the content is based on myths and is unscientific, they normalize such conversations online. “Such material reinforces the preference for a son and the undesirability of a daughter, and perpetuates the mentality that determining the sex of a fetus is normal.” He said that such videos clearly violate the provisions of the PC&PNDT Act.
Section 3A of the Act prohibits any person from making or assisting in sex selection, while Section 22 prohibits any form of advertisement related to prenatal sex determination, punishable with imprisonment of 5 to 10 years. In its letter to states regarding online violations, the ministry cited these two sections of the Act along with relevant sections of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
India’s overall sex ratio at birth (females per 1,000 males) has improved over five years, from 904 in 2019 to 917 in 2023, according to Sample Registration System (SRS) data released by the government. But the SRS, which is conducted among 22 states and union territories, shows that the sex ratio in Madhya Pradesh has fallen from 925 to 917 over the years. The sex ratio of West Bengal has decreased. From 941 to 931 in the same years. Meanwhile, in Delhi, the ‘Annual Report on Registration of Births and Deaths in Delhi 2024’ shows that the city’s sex ratio has been falling steadily since 2020, when it reached its highest level of 933 females per 1,000 males. This reduces to 932 in 2021, 929 in 2022 and 922 in 2023.
online change
Doctors at hospitals, as well as Anganwadi and Asha workers, say they do not receive requests for sex determination as they did a few years ago. Dr Rashmi Gera, head of the family planning unit at Delhi’s Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, says women who come to the hospital for medical termination of pregnancy do not talk about gender selection. “Sometimes, if someone has three daughters, I check in and try to give them advice. But now everyone knows that’s wrong.” In India, it is legal to terminate a pregnancy for birth control or any other reason up to 20 weeks, and in some situations up to 24 weeks.
Niharika Tripathi, an academic who researches gender and population, says such mindsets die hard. “Previously, there were myths that said if you conceived on a particular date, you would have a boy, or if your skin was glowing, it would be a girl.”
Conversations about such myths take place in his sociology class at Delhi University, where students discuss myths in their respective hometowns. Tripathi says that while women are at the forefront both online and offline, this mentality stems from family pressure.
This was echoed by Praveen K, an expert in population health and demographic changes. Pathak, a professor at JNU’s Center for the Study of Regional Development, says: “It is unfortunate that people are falling victim to such content because of social pressures. This does not happen in a vacuum. While the mother may engage in this content, the husband, in-laws and extended family play a role in convincing her that she should have a boy.”
Influential people deny harm
While the government is removing the links, Girls Count is writing to influencers and telling them why such content is illegal and morally wrong. While some influencers remove them, others argue that there is no harm in their content, and that they “support women’s rights”.
An influencer who posted a video on how to determine the gender of a fetus responded, “These things have been going on for years in villages and cities. When a woman in a household was pregnant, based on the lifestyle of the mother, guesses were made whether it was a boy or a girl. In earlier years, women were not online but it still happened.” The influencer, who began creating content while pregnant, explains that as a mother of two daughters, she knows how “precious” daughters are, and also says that daughters are loved in her family. She adds, “If I have committed a crime then perhaps every pregnant woman who thinks so is committing a crime.”
Another influencer responded by posting a follow-up video explaining how sex determination is harmful, but refused to remove the first video about guessing the sex of a fetus.
Actually, Pushpa had no idea that the pressure put on her by her family was harmful for her. “Many people around me used to say that a boy would carry the family name forward, and earn to support the family. At that time, I didn’t have the courage to fight back. It was only when a relative who worked as a midwife in Haryana was arrested for facilitating gender selection that I realized this was wrong.”
faint rays of hope
The fight to remove Internet advertisements promoting gender reassignment began in 2008 when Dr. Sabu Mathew George, a social activist, filed a petition to block websites promoting gender selection. Along with the government, Google India, Yahoo India and Microsoft Corporation (India) Private Limited are also involved. Ltd. were the defendants in the case.
In 2017, a bench headed by then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra found that the tech giant was not respecting Indian law by allowing such advertisements. It specifically ordered the formation of a nodal agency for Section 22 of the Act to screen warning messages if content related to gender determination is displayed. It also ordered auto-blocking of certain keywords. The PC&PNDT nodal agency was established in February 2017 under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
While Section 22 of the PC&PNDT Act states that no person or organization possessing technology capable of deciphering the sex of a fetus shall release, publish, distribute or communicate in any form including the internet, Girls Count has written to the ministry suggesting amendments to make the legal framework more robust. It sought to include “gender prediction through digital platforms for commercial or non-commercial purposes, scientifically or otherwise”. Girls Count recommends redefining and expanding the term ‘advertising’ to include ‘services’ as assistance or support provided online or offline to facilitate prenatal sex determination.
An ASHA worker from south-west Delhi says the law has brought positive changes. “Till a few years ago, pregnant women would ask about the gender of the baby. Now, out of 100 beneficiaries, maybe one of them would ask about the gender,” she says.
Many people in the comment section of the video say they are praying for a child. But there are some users who oppose them. One comment says, “Regardless of gender, be blessed with a healthy baby.” Some people also highlight the fact that it is illegal.
In Pushpa’s family, one of her daughters pushes her back. “If I say anything about my son, my eldest daughter opposes. In my time I did not have the option to fight this mentality, but now things are slowly changing.”
The author is Laadli Media Fellow. The views expressed are the author’s own. Ladli and UNFPA do not necessarily endorse these views.
ashna.butani@thehindu.co.in
Edited by Sunalini Mathew
