Terminating fetuses to avoid daughters

KATHMANDU, March 9: Skinny and frail-looking, she does not have any invitation from anywhere for Women´s Day, which is being celebrated across the country and the world. As usual, the 38-year-old mother of three daughters is busy cooking, moping, washing and all that, without any complaints.

Meera Thapa (not her real name) would carry out her ´duty´ even more cheerfully if she was not suffering back and lower stomach problems that she developed over the years, after repeated abortions. [break]

“After the birth of two of my daughters, my husband and in-laws wanted me to have a son. We came to know that you could check the sex of the baby soon after conceiving. So, every time I conceived thereafter, we went to hospital to check whether it was a boy or girl,” said Meera.

“I felt sad that we could not manage that earlier. So during the third month of my fourth pregnancy I underwent an abortion. At that stage fetuses actually start to move,” said the woman. “The next time I conceived a son. My family felt blessed, but as fate would have it, he did not survive.”

A scooter rally at Basantapur. (Photo: Bhaswor Ojha)

The newborn´s death quite broke the couple´s heart and they began to accept it as god´s will that they would have no son. Amid all this, the wife conceived yet again, a gender test indicated a girl, and it was to be aborted. “However, the doctor said that could be a risk to my own life, and so we had no choice but to give birth.”

Thapa´s story is the reality of our society, notes gender expert Gyanu Chhetri. “Thousands of female fetuses are gotten rid of. Mothers are pressured to produce a son. Male domination and mentality in our society is so deep-rooted that education, awareness, penetration of the media in almost every house and so-called modernism have all fallen short of being able to change society,” she remarks.

While senior official at the Health and Population Ministry Ambika Prasad Neupanne states that not all abortion cases in the country are reported, the latest census data shows gender-selective abortions are actually higher in the urban areas than in rural areas. According to the census of 2012, girls´ population in the urban areas is 5.7 percent less than boys´ population in the same age group, i.e. - 407,984 girls to 457,346 boys.

Girls in a program in Basantapur. (Photo: Bhaswor Ojha)

“Boys are no less preferred in the villages but people here do not have easy access to medical services as in the towns,”said Chhetri.

Terminating girl fetuses for boys not only leads to demographic imbalance in the long run, but in a country like Nepal, where malnutrition among women and children is very high, the health status of childbearing women deteriorates further. “After each abortion, the mother needs more nutrition-rich food and also rest. And normally women in our country can hardly afford that,” she marked.

So, while the entire world is celebrating 103rd International Women´s Day, it means nothing to Meera Thapa. “What to do on women´s day?” she laughs, carrying a bucket of water to her rooftop kitchen. “Nowadays there is an acute problem of water. My back almost collapses after carrying water like this, but I have no choice.”