One mother, fearful of being ostracised by her in-laws, aborted three female foetuses, while another, one of four sisters, had a termination because she could not face the “curse” of having a baby girl. A third, who had already given birth to a daughter, was repeatedly punched in the stomach by her husband after he discovered that her unborn child was female.
The harrowing accounts have emerged as a cross-party group of MPs introduces a parliamentary bill this week intended to highlight what they suspect is some doctors’ flouting of the law on gender abortions.
Research by the Department of Health has found no evidence of a high ratio of boys in such communities but campaigners say there is growing anecdotal evidence that gender abortions are secretly being conducted.
A poll by ComRes for the lobbying group Christian Concern found that 84% of people believe gender abortion should be “explicitly banned by law”.
Rani Bilkhu, spokeswoman for the campaign group Jeena International, said: “This bill is the chance to fight what we believe is the first violence against women and girls.”
