In India, a doctor fights against female foeticide by offering to deliver baby girls free of charge

Publié le 18 Avr, 2017

In India, the cultural preference for boys has led to gender selective abortions. Many little girls are never born. Scientists estimate that up to 12 million girls have been aborted in India over the last 30 years.

 

Although the use of ultrasound scans for gender selective abortions was banned by the Indian Government in 1996, this law is difficult to impose and is regularly overturned as the Press Agency, Reuters, explained.

 

In an attempt to try and change things, Doctor Ganesh Rakh, who has a small hospital in western India, has decided to deliver baby girls free of charge.

 

“The most difficult challenge for any doctor is telling relatives that a patient is dead. For me, it’s equally difficult to tell families that they are expecting a daughter,” he explained. “When a boy is born, the families celebrate and hand out sweets”. When it’s a girl, they are bitterly disappointed. The mother leaves the hospital in tears and families negotiate a discount”. A “change of attitude” is desperately need.

 

Since offering his services, 464 baby girls have been born in his hospital. Furthermore, his story has spread and many doctors he has contacted have agreed to join his crusade which he calls Mulgi Vachva Abhiyan  – the “campaign to save baby girls”.

Aleteia, Zelda Caldwell (07/04/2017)

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