During clinical rotations at a nearby hospital in Mussoorie, India, I experienced one of my biggest “wow” and “aha” moments of the entire trip. Earlier in the program, one of our guest speakers had mentioned that male children are often preferred over female children, but at the time I did not fully understand the significance of that statement.

I had the opportunity to shadow in the ultrasound department and was excited to observe what I assumed would be routine prenatal ultrasounds and the reactions of expecting parents seeing their babies on the screen. Instead, many of the patients I observed were receiving ultrasounds after undergoing abortions. The scans were being used to assess the progression of the procedure, check for retained products of conception, evaluate the ovaries, and ensure there were no complications. As I was observing the room, I noticed a sign posted on the wall that read, “Disclosure and selection of the sex of the foetus is prohibited under the law.” This sign had multiple postings around the hospital.

Seeing that sign immediately brought me back to the lecture from earlier in the program. I later learned that healthcare providers in India are legally prohibited from revealing the sex of a fetus because of concerns surrounding sex-selective abortions and gender preference. What had once seemed like an interesting fact from a lecture suddenly became very real as I saw how seriously the policy was enforced within the hospital setting. Even the ultrasound technology itself is regulated by the government to ensure the information was not being looked up or given out.

This moment was impactful because it was one of the first times I truly recognized how culture public health policies are deeply connected. As someone from the United States, where learning the sex of a baby during pregnancy is very common, this was a practice I had never encountered before. It reminded me that healthcare systems are shaped by the unique social and cultural challenges faced by a population, and it reinforced the importance of understanding those factors before making assumptions based on my own experiences.