Politics
Thursday December 14, 2006
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7,000 Unborn Girls Die From Sex-Selection Abortion Daily in India
By Gudrun Schultz
NEW DELHI, India, December 14, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Sex-selective abortion continues to kill almost 7,000 of India’s unborn baby girls every day, an annual United Nations report on children said.
“Nationwide, 7000 fewer girls than expected are born each day, largely due to sex determination,” said the report State of the World’s Children 2007.
“Since 1991, statistics reveal drastic declines in the number of girl children in the most prosperous states and districts--as much as 50-100 fewer girls per 1,000 boys than elsewhere.”
The national average, at 927, is well below the normal worldwide average of 1,050 girls to every 1,000 boys.
In the northern districts of the country, including the Punjab and Haryana states, fewer than 800 girls are born to every 1000 boys. Northern Punjab is one of the worst, with just 798 girls for every 1,000 boys under the age of six, the AFP reported.
Although the Indian government has made it illegal to perform ultrasounds and abortions for the purpose of sex-selection, the practice is widespread and shows no signs of slowing. Wealthier populations are the worst offenders, since they can afford the cost of testing for gender identification.
The cultural preference for boys leads to further neglect of girls who do survive to birth, the UN report said.
“After birth, son-preference continues to persist, leading to the neglect of girls and their lack of access to nutrition, health and maternal care in the critical early years,"
A report from 2005 found a worldwide gender imbalance of at least 200 million more males than females, caused by the abortion of female babies.
In China, the one-child policy has led to the selective murder of millions of Chinese girls in order to satisfy the cultural preference for male children. Official census data for the year 2000 showed a male-female gender gap of almost 17 percent, in some provinces rising as high as 30 percent.
See related LifeSiteNews coverage:
“Gendercide” – Abortion and Infanticide of Girls Leading to Lop-Sided Demographics
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/nov/05112208.html
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