| Chapter 2: | Background on Population Sex Ratio |
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A family that has sons early and stops childbearing will have a high proportion of sons, whereas a family that has sons later will have a lower proportion of sons, even though preference for sons may be the same in both families. Clark (2000) used the 1992–1993 National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data to determine if differential stopping behavior was occurring in India. She compared the ideal and the actual proportion of sons within families and identified characteristics associated with each. As confirmed by her analysis, without controlling for family size, the actual proportion of sons should not be associated with family characteristics in the absence of prenatal sex selection (which was not as widespread by the early 1990s). The ideal proportion of sons was associated with lack of formal education, scheduled caste status, rural residence, and negatively associated with Christian religion and with living in South India. Increasing family size had the opposite effect on ideal and actual proportion of sons: The actual proportion of sons decreased, whereas the ideal proportion increased, indicating that families are not able to meet their ideal number of sons without increasing family size. Restricting the analysis to completed families only and controlling for family size, the actual proportion of sons was significantly associated with lack of formal education, lower caste status, rural residence, Hindu and Muslim religions, and with living in northern and eastern India, indicating that families with those characteristics are more likely to practice differential stopping behavior as a strategy to achieve their desired number of sons.
Sex-Selective Abortion
Abortion has been legal in India since the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act was passed in 1971.