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Hundreds of Women March to Protest Illegal Female Abortion in India

By Elizabeth O'Brien

BHUBANESWAR, India, August 3, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Hundreds of women marched through the Eastern Indian city of Bhubaneswar on Wednesday during a massive rally to protest abortion and infanticide of females based on sex-selection, Reuters reports.

The streets were thronged with protestors carrying signs, saying, "hang the murderers" and "spare the girls."

Earlier in the day, young activists of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), a student political group, collected hundreds of signatures as part of a protest campaign against the sex-based murder of baby girls, Salem Voice News reports. Protestors demanded that the government address the illegal yet widespread practice throughout India.

The protest comes after a series of discoveries of large-scale female foeticides. In the most recent discovery on Tuesday, police uncovered the bodies of 14 babies in jars behind a private clinic in Bhubaneswar, Orissa's capital city.

In light of the discovery, Director of Salem Voice Ministries Paul Ciniraj issued the following statement: "India is being called as 'Bharat Matha (Mother India)'. There is no word in the universe greater than 'mother', except God. Such a precious personality, mother, is the fullness of a woman. According the Indian ethics, woman is the synonym of all prosperities. Then how can we kill a baby girl? Stop the killing."

The event also occurred shortly after the discovery of more than 150 fetuses outside an abortion clinic in Nayagarh. In late July, police found thirty bags of baby corpses that are believed to be females aborted because of a cultural preference for males. 

Although ultrasounds and abortions based on sex-selection are illegal in India, the law is rarely enforced and has resulted in an extremely skewed sex ratio. There are only 927 girls to 1,000 boys, according to a 2006 United Nations report, whereas the normal average is 1,050 girls to 1,000 boys (see http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/dec/06121401.html).

Although the practice of "female foeticide" is common in wealthier districts, it is widespread throughout the country. The preference for male children is partly due to the traditional dowry that must be provided by the bride's family as well as a general cultural lack of the recognition of the equality of women.

Previous LifeSiteNews coverage:

"Gendercide" - Abortion and Infanticide of Girls Leading to Lop-Sided Demographics
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/nov/05112208.html

30 Bags of Baby Body Parts Found in Eastern India May be Products of Illegal "Female Foeticide"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jul/07072409.html

Indian "Genocide" of Girls by Abortion Exposed in New Book "Disappearing Daughters"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jul/07072309.html

Abortion Doctor in India Jailed Under Female Foeticide Law
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/mar/06032906.html

Trafficking of Women Rampant In Northern India: 8 Women for Every 10 Men
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/apr/06040602.html

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