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Indian Couple Selectively Aborted Female Babies, Dumped the Bodies in a Well

By Peter J. Smith

NEW DEHLI, August 10, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Police in India’s northern state of Punjab, recently busted a husband and wife’s illegal abortion business that was selectively aborting girls, a practice that is forbidden by Indian law. The discovery has generated outrage from India’s Catholic Bishops, who have re-affirmed the Church’s defense of life and women in a state where family planning practices have made girls unwanted and boys preferred.

According to the Associated Press, a former Indian soldier, Pritam Singh, pretended to be a doctor and was assisted by his wife in setting up a sham maternity clinic in the town of Patran, where they performed deliveries and abortions. According to investigator Jagveer Singh, “under the guise of a maternity clinic, he [Pritam Singh] carried out illegal abortions and killed female fetuses." Investigator Singh revealed that the couple then dumped the dead babies into an unused well.

Although abortion is legal in India, the practice of sex-selective abortion has been illegal in India since 1994, since India became concerned about a growing disparity in the birth ratio of boys to girls. The law is widely broken, however, since India’s family planning policies have discouraged large families in India, and boys are generally perceived as more useful than girls.

Singh and his wife were exposed after Punjab police received a tip-off from a disgruntled employee, whom the pair had recently fired from the clinic. The employee informed the police about the couple’s activities, and revealed that the couple were hiding the aborted babies in an unused well. Police investigating the allegations discovered abortion instruments and medicines used for sex determination in the clinic, and have recovered the bodies of 15 female aborted babies.

Police then arrested them Wednesday, charging them with breaking India’s ban on sex-selective abortions, a crime which carries the penalty of 3 to 10 years in jail if convicted.

The exposed crimes have once again caused outcry from India’s Catholic bishops, who have denounced the prevalent practice of sex-selective abortion in India.

“The Church has always raised her voice against the grave evil of abortion, but here what is even more contemptible and condemnable is that females are chosen to be killed,” said Monsignor Oswald Gracias, President of India’s Catholic Bishops Conference and the Archbishop of Agra in an interview with AsiaNews, who appealed to the Church in India to recommit itself to “creating a culture not only of life, but also of respect for women and the vital role they play in the family, society and world.”

“The Church, especially in rural areas, has always focused on the education of girls of every caste and creed. We cannot allow this evil to have the last word,” said the Archbishop. “The Church through her witnesses and mission must strive even harder to foster and create a more just world especially for women.”

The British medical journal, Lancet, has revealed that the combination of selective abortions and India’s prevailing cultural preference for male sons has caused the abortion of 10 million Indian girls over the past 20 years.

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