Abstract

Declining sex ratio is an issue of grave concern in India. Son preference has been one of the most evident manifestations of our society. Today, with technological advancement in medical diagnosis this discrimination begins even before birth(3).Various medical technologies have been put into practice to identify the sex of the child before the birth and selective abortion, if found female. PC-PNDT Act, 1994 was enacted to provide regulation of pre-natal diagnostic techniques for the prevention of the misuse of such techniques for the purpose of pre-natal sex determination leading to female feticide (4).Methods: The present cross-sectional study was conducted in KIMS & RF,AMALAPURAM, the subjects were administered with pre-designed and pretested questionnaire. Information was collected regarding sex determination as well as PC-PNDT Act. Results: Majority of the study participants (n=85, 60.7%) knew that prenatal sex determination was possible. Mass media was the main source of information (n=41, 48.2%) followed by family/friends (n=28, 33%).When participants were asked regarding possible modality of sex determination, 37.6% (n=32) stated that ultrasound is the modality, 8.2% (n=7) opined that amniocentesis is the modality and a significant proportion of subjects (n=37,43.5%) were not aware regarding the modality. Majority of the study participants (n=48, 56.6%) opined that prenatal sex determination can be done in government and private hospitals. Majority of the subjects (n=90, 64.3%), preferred male over female child. When study participants were asked regarding legality of sex determination, only 40% (n=34) of them knew it was illegal and it was punishable offence. While (n=15, 44%) said that only doctors were punished for the offence and 32% (n=11) opined that, both doctors and patients should be punished for the offence. Majority of the study participants (n=109, 77.9%) had noticed posters/papers of PCPNDT act outside the scanning room. Nearly 100% (n=140) of the participants had given proper consent before undergoing antenatal scan. Conclusions: The majority of the study participants are knowledgable regarding prenatal sex determination , but <50% of study subjects are aware that is a punishable offence. Higher proportion of participants preferred male child over female child with no significant difference in choice of preference among literates and illiterates, which is a cause of concern.

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