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The Bio-Politics of Population Control and Sex Selective Abortion in China and India

Eklund, Lisa LU and Purewal, Navtej (2017) In Feminism and Psychology 27(1). p.34-55
Abstract
China and India, two countries with skewed sex ratios in favor of males, have introduced a wide range of policies over the past few decades to prevent couples from deselecting daughters, including criminalizing sex-selective abortion through legal jurisdiction. This article aims to analyze how such policies are situated within the bio-politics of population control and how some of the outcomes reflect each government’s inadequacy in addressing the social dynamics around abortion decision making and the social, physical, and psychological effects on women’s wellbeing in the face of criminalization of sex-selective abortion. The analysis finds that overall, the criminalization of sex selection has not been successful in these two countries.... (More)
China and India, two countries with skewed sex ratios in favor of males, have introduced a wide range of policies over the past few decades to prevent couples from deselecting daughters, including criminalizing sex-selective abortion through legal jurisdiction. This article aims to analyze how such policies are situated within the bio-politics of population control and how some of the outcomes reflect each government’s inadequacy in addressing the social dynamics around abortion decision making and the social, physical, and psychological effects on women’s wellbeing in the face of criminalization of sex-selective abortion. The analysis finds that overall, the criminalization of sex selection has not been successful in these two countries. Further, the broader economic, social, and cultural dynamics which produce bias against females must be a part of the strategy to combat sex selection, rather than a narrow criminalization of abortion which endangers women’s access to safe reproductive health services and their social, physical, and psychological wellbeing. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Abortion, Bio-politics, Bio-power, China, Criminalization, India, Sex selection
in
Feminism and Psychology
volume
27
issue
1
pages
34 - 55
publisher
SAGE Publications
external identifiers
  • scopus:85012887112
  • wos:000394746900003
ISSN
0959-3535
DOI
10.1177/0959353516682262
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
a745e48a-4940-4dc2-893c-16d339982d12
date added to LUP
2017-02-13 15:11:49
date last changed
2022-04-16 23:19:40
@article{a745e48a-4940-4dc2-893c-16d339982d12,
  abstract     = {{China and India, two countries with skewed sex ratios in favor of males, have introduced a wide range of policies over the past few decades to prevent couples from deselecting daughters, including criminalizing sex-selective abortion through legal jurisdiction. This article aims to analyze how such policies are situated within the bio-politics of population control and how some of the outcomes reflect each government’s inadequacy in addressing the social dynamics around abortion decision making and the social, physical, and psychological effects on women’s wellbeing in the face of criminalization of sex-selective abortion. The analysis finds that overall, the criminalization of sex selection has not been successful in these two countries. Further, the broader economic, social, and cultural dynamics which produce bias against females must be a part of the strategy to combat sex selection, rather than a narrow criminalization of abortion which endangers women’s access to safe reproductive health services and their social, physical, and psychological wellbeing.}},
  author       = {{Eklund, Lisa and Purewal, Navtej}},
  issn         = {{0959-3535}},
  keywords     = {{Abortion; Bio-politics; Bio-power; China; Criminalization; India; Sex selection}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{34--55}},
  publisher    = {{SAGE Publications}},
  series       = {{Feminism and Psychology}},
  title        = {{The Bio-Politics of Population Control and Sex Selective Abortion in China and India}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959353516682262}},
  doi          = {{10.1177/0959353516682262}},
  volume       = {{27}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}