India’s doctor nuns to rescue girl child

(February 17, 2012) Catholic nuns working as doctors in India have launched a campaign to protect the country’s girl children. More than 200 members of the Sisters Doctors Forum of India (SDFI) met on Friday in Mangalore to announce various programs to help the girl child survive in the country. The forum chose “Let the girl child live” as its theme. Archbishop Vincent Concessao of Delhi, chairperson of the Office for Health Care of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India said selective abortion and discrimination have made the girl child an endangered species in the country. “Catholic religious doctors have a special responsibility to respond to the poorest of the poor,” he added. Sr. Lucian, president of the 650-member forum, said the nun doctors started the campaign because they are worried that India’s declining sex ratio would lead to an unbalanced society with increased criminality. She observed that some 39 million women are missing in India and around 10 million girls were killed in the past 20 years. “Female babies are thrown in gutters and forests and one in every 25 unborn girls is aborted,” she pointed out. Around 3 million girls do not reach their 15th birthday. So much so, some Indian cities have only 814 girls for 1000 boys, said Sister Lucian, a member of the Sister of Cross of Chavanod. She said during February-March the forum would campaign through its regional units to educate the public on the need to protect the girl child. The forum would also use telefilms and documentaries in local languages to spread the message. It plans several programs on Women’s Day on March 8 to promote women’s status and educate the public on the ill effects of abortions.