In India, Girl Babies are Aborted Just Because They are Girls
The Indian culture’s discriminatory preference for males is apparent in the state of Tiruvannamalai.
There, men outnumber women at an unnatural gender ratio of 1,000 to 878, the New Indian Express reports. Although sex selection abortions are illegal, many girls in the Asian country are being targeted this way.
This week, local Indian government authorities raided an illegal abortion practice in Tiruvannamalai where sex-selection abortions appeared to be going on. When authorities raided the operation, they noted that all three of the unborn babies who were aborted that day were girls, according to the report.
The illegal practice, run by a couple and their son, covertly brought women to their three-story home where the women paid a small fee of 5,000 rupees (about $75) for a scan, possibly to determine the sex of the child, and then another 7,000 rupees (about $105) for the abortion, according to the report.
Here’s more from the report:
The main person behind this racket, T Anandhi (48), was helped by her husband and their son, an engineering student, said the Joint Director of Medical and Rural Health Services, Tiruvannamalai, N Rajendran. There were a few auto-rickshaw drivers in the district who acted as agents. “The woman allowed only those who came in auto, and she would give commission to the driver,” said Dr Senguttuvan, director of medical services.
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… According to a health department official, the three-storey house on Senguttuvan Street was always locked and guarded by the husband and other staff, with each customer allowed only after thorough screening. It was last month that the officials received complaints about the centre performing illegal abortions. Anandhi was a known person after being arrested in 2012 in similar charges.
Authorities said the family tried to hide the women when they arrived on Tuesday. Anahdhi attempted to stall the authorities while her son locked several women inside a bathroom and then locked himself in a bedroom with the scanning machine and erased all the images, according to the report.
The scans possibly could have provided further evidence about whether unborn baby girls were being targeted for abortions.
The targeting of girls in sex-selection abortions and infanticide has become a global problem. As LifeNews previously reported, sex-selection abortions are commonplace in nations like China and India, where women are often forced to abort female unborn babies; however, evidence suggests that they also occurring in the U.S. and Europe.
A new study of abandoned infants in the Indian capital of New Delhi seemed to indicate that the discrimination against baby girls is a problem even in the most wealthy parts in the country. The researchers studied the autopsies of infants whose bodies were discovered in one of the richest neighborhoods in the capital.
Dr. C. Behera, who co-authored the study, said they found an unusually high number of girls among the babies who were at least 20 weeks gestation – the point when most parents find out their unborn baby’s sex.
The gender discrimination has become such a huge problem in India that doctors are prohibited from telling parents the sex of their unborn baby. Some of the nation’s leaders also have put together creative social campaigns to promote the value of girls and discourage gender discrimination.
