International   

Sex selection among U.K. Indians too

LONDON: A BBC investigation has revealed that the pressure on British Indian women to “bless” the family with sons is almost as great as on their counterparts back home forcing them to abort “unwanted” daughters.

Many go India to terminate pregnancy where “sex-selection” abortions happen on a “terrifying” scale, according to a BBC report, though, legally, the practice is banned.

The findings were broadcast by the BBC’s Asian Network in a programme, “Britain’s Missing Girls”.

A young British woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, told the programme that she went to India to abort her child when the family discovered that “unfortunately” it was “another girl.”

The woman, whose words were spoken by an actor, said: “Me and my husband decided to go to India and try and find out what we were having and unfortunately it was another girl. My husband and I thought the burden would probably be too much. So, we decided to terminate.”

She said it was easy to find doctors in Delhi who were happy to do a sex-determination test and then carry out the abortion.

An undercover pregnant woman sent by the BBC to India claimed that three top doctors in Delhi were willing to do the scan knowing full well that if the child was a daughter the woman would ask for abortion.

The programme said the story of the “missing girls” among British Indian families was only just “starting to emerge” and it was difficult to say how many women were travelling to India for abortion.

A population expert at Oxford University told the programme that there was a worrying “shortfall” of girls born to British Indian mothers. Nearly 1,500 fewer baby girls were born in Indian families between 1990 and 2005 than expected.

“What I have found is that the proportion of boys over girls has increased over time….it’s increased in a way that’s not normal. The most probable explanation seems to be sex-selective abortion by a minority of mothers born in India,” said Sylvie Dubuc, a population research at Oxford University.

Dr. Ramesh Mehta, president of the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, said he was “shocked” that this should be happening in Indian families living in Britain.

“We are aware that it does go on in India. We are surprised and shocked that it’s possibly happening among women who are living in this country. We think this is very unfortunate in this day and age. It’s frankly shocking,” he said.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Iran calls for Gulf security organisation
Release the innocent: Colombo
Mature democracy: Chavez
Sex selection among U.K. Indians too
One dies of bird flu in China
“Iraqi militants regrouping”
“Other countries should be mindful of our rights”
123 Agreement won’t be reopened: Burns

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu