Foetus, what is your cost ?

It is the seed of life and yet sometimes the conditions are bizarre enough for it to take life away. Such was a rare case for Savita in Ireland when the doctor gave a straight forward 'no' because of the presence of feotal heartbeat. This was indeed a queer case, but the hesitation of the doctor and the archaic laws of the land.

In India, we already have a fetus issue, a more rural one, homegrown and down to the earth. Female foeticide has rocked the nation ever since medical science had discovered abortion.This selective foeticide has been the result of generations of segregation of women and sexist mythology, the Indian psyche has been so deeply affected that even the women folk seems to have defaulted in their responsibility to their gender and chose to burn them in stakes with their husbands.

There had been programs in the past set up by the government to combat female foeticide. These programs targeted village household and taught them how girls could contribute to the family's income and the need for girl children. The result high in the sex ratio in Indian villages. But, ratio remained tilted towards the old beliefs that only men are the carriers of the family traditions and wealth.

This, all the while, doesn't glorify the foetus as an object to be revered but rather that once born a woman should have equal rights as man. Foetus, as long as they are in the mother's womb are just another tissue.