Ecologists only count females in many animal populations. An anti-female behavioral bias (and some species show them at times) almost alway results in lower population, more conflict among males and separation of populations - at least in lower animals.
The profound moral questions aside, it seems to me that this, as a practical matter, is not good for India.
On 1/9/06, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4592890.stm>
>
> India 'loses 10m female births'
>
> More than 10m female births in India may have been lost to abortion
> and sex selection in the past 20 years, according to medical research.
>
> Researchers in India and Canada for the Lancet journal said prenatal
> selection and selective abortion was causing the loss of 500,000
> girls a year.
>
> Their research was based on a national survey of 1.1m households in 1998.
>
> The researchers said the "girl deficit" was more common among
> educated women but did not vary according to religion.
>
> The unusual gender balance in India has been known about for some time.
>
> In most countries, women slightly outnumber men, but separate
> research for the year 2001 showed that for every 1,000 male babies
> born in India, there were just 933 girls.
>
> Ultrasound
>
> The latest research is by Prabhat Jha of St Michael's Hospital at the
> University of Toronto, Canada, and Rajesh Kumar of the Postgraduate
> Institute of Medical Research in Chandigarh, India.
>
> They found that there was an increasing tendency to select boys when
> previous children had been girls.
>
> The sex ratio is so skewed in some states, men cannot find brides
>
> In cases where the preceding child was a girl, the ratio of girls to
> boys in the next birth was 759 to 1,000.
>
> This fell even further when the two preceding children were both
> girls. Then the ratio for the third child born was just 719 girls to
> 1,000 boys.
>
> However, for a child following the birth of a male child, the gender
> ratio was roughly equal.
>
> Prabhat Jha said conservative estimates in the research suggested
> half a million girls were being lost each year.
>
> "If this practice has been common for most of the past two decades
> since access to ultrasound became widespread, then a figure of 10m
> missing female births would not be unreasonable."
>
> 'Shameful'
>
> Sex selective abortions have been banned in India for more than a decade.
>
> Experts in India say female foeticide is mostly linked to
> socio-economic factors.
>
> It is an idea that many say carries over from the time India was a
> predominantly agrarian society where boys were considered an extra
> pair of hands on the farm.
>
> The girl child has traditionally been considered inferior and a
> liability - a bride's dowry can cripple a poor family financially.
>
> The BBC's Jill McGivering says the problem is complicated by advances
> in technology. Ultrasound machines must be officially registered but
> many are now so light and portable, they are hard to monitor.
>
> Although doctors in India must not tell couples the sex of a foetus,
> in practice, some just use coded signals instead, our correspondent
> says.
>
> Last year the well-known religious leader and social activist, Swami
> Agnivesh, began a campaign across five northern and western states
> against female foeticide.
>
> "There's no other form of violence that's more painful, more
> abhorrent, more shameful," he said.
>
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