Eight arrested after abortion racket uncovered in India

(December 15, 2011) “The right to life is the first of all rights, but it is denied to many girls. This is a horrible crime,” said Cardinal Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Mumbai, and President of Catholic Bishops Conference of India, speaking about a racket of selective female infanticide uncovered by Indian police. On Wednesday police arrested eight support staff, technicians and nurses, at a hospital in Ambala, North India’s Haryana State. A couple of doctors, Namarata and Ajay Madan, who ran the criminal scheme, are on the run. The investigation revealed that sex determination tests were carried out in order to perform abortions on female foetuses. It is not yet clear how many selective abortions were performed, but it is known that the racket extended into Haryana, Chandigarh, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh States. The discovery of the racket could just be the tip of the iceberg and have serious consequences for Indian society. The latest census of 2011 showed that the sex ratio was just 940 females per 1000 males in India. Female infanticide and foeticide is the tragic consequence of an archaic mentality and traditional cultural practices, namely a deep-rooted preference for sons and the continued practice of dowry. “The increasing materialism and secularism in society resulting in God being marginalized in life and society’” are also to blame, Mumbai archbishop said. “Christmas is a time to put God back in the centre of our life and create anew a world of ethics, values and principles.” For Dr. Pascoal Carvalho, of the Pontifical Academy for Life, “selective abortions and female infanticides have resulted in India's skewed sex ratio and is a cause for concern. What is more, contrary to what some might think, the gap is greatest in cities, among the most affluent communities and not in rural areas, among the illiterate.”