A weekly advertisement by Dr John Stephens promoting fetal sex determination (sex of an unborn child) has been appearing in the World Sikh News for the past few months.
Prenatal testing such as amniocentesis and/or ultrasound procedures are usually applied to identify the fetus afflicted with serious & lifelong problems. However, in India these procedures have been used to determine the sex of fetus in order to abort the fetus with unwanted sex.
Last year in Bombay 80,000 female fetuses were aborted. In one study, of the 8000 fetuses aborted 7997 were the female fetuses.
I was appalled to see this Adina leading Sikh newspaper because this whole concept is against Sikh teachings. Sikh Gurus have always emphasized on equality of sexes and against sex discrimination. The Tenth Guru, Guru Gobind Singh ji forbade his Sikhs from having any kind of dealings with those who killed their girls (Kurimar)
By allowing this advertisement in the World Sikh News, the management has committed a serious error.
I urge you please to withdraw this ad immediately; and to show your good faith in Sikh teachings, use your media to discourage others from committing such atrocities.
Ranjeer Kaur Sikh Women’s Intl. Org.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 23, 1990
