India has the highest number of illegal abortions in the world, with nearly four million women annually terminating their pregnancies, writes Rahul Bedi. The global figure is around 15 million.
A survey carried out jointly by the Centre for Operations Research, Population Action International and Ford Foundation of America revealed that India's abortion rate was two to five times higher than a reported global average of three per 1,000 women.
The survey also found that the social compulsion to illegally terminate pregnancies often led to women incurring huge debts, even though government clinics and hospitals carry out abortions free. Government hospitals are considered inefficient and indiscreet.
Abortion was legalised in India in 1971. Other social workers said scores of illegal abortions take place across eastern Bihar, economically and socially India's most backward state. They said female infanticide was rampant there and thousands of new-born girls were killed every year by parents who considered them a social and economic liability.
According to Adhiti, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in Bihar's capital Patna, around 1,200 baby girls are killed each year in Katihar district, usually by dais (traditional midwives) under pressure from parents. Though originally prevalent among the upper castes, female infanticide has now spread to the lower castes, including the Harijans (untouchables).
A recent report by the NGO, based on interviews with midwives, asserted that mothers were usually unwilling to kill their children, but in Bihar's male-dominated society were forced into doing so by their husbands. State officials were aware of female infanticide but admitted that over the years it had acquired "social sanction and tacit acceptability".
One social worker said: "Even the police in Bihar refused to register a report or take any action on cases of female infanticide, however obvious the crime." One midwife confessed she was forced into killing several newborn girls by stuffing their mouths with salt or fertiliser. All died within an hour and their bodies were either buried or thrown into the nearest river. She said she was paid 25 rupees (45 pence) for each child killed.
Bihar is among the poorest, most violent and caste-ridden of India's 25 states, with women treated virtually like slaves and sons preferred.