Row Over Death After Abortion In Hyderabad

Victim Was Forced By In-Laws To Abort Female Foetus. When India was busy celebrating International Women’s Day, a group of women activists were protesting the death of a woman who was forced by her family to undergo an abortion to get rid of her five-month-old female foetus, which eventually led to her death. The activists, armed with a fact finding report, revealed the gory details of how 28-year-old M Vijayalakshmi died after a botched-up abortion which was carried out in a private nursing home in Nalgonda. 
    
Vijayalakshmi’s death has once again put the spotlight on thriving sex selective abortions and the grim girl child sex ratio in the state, they said. Nalgonda in fact has the third lowest girl child sex ratio in AP with 921 girls per 1,000 boys, with high preferences for boys. 
    
Vijayalakshmi died in Hyderabad on February 28, a day after she was admitted to a city hospital in a critical condition. 
    
Living with her in-laws in Burugadda in Huzurnagar mandal of Nalgonda, Vijaylakshmi was forced to go to a nursing home in Kodad for a sex determination test. When the in-laws found that it is a girl child, the pregnancy was terminated. Activists said that due to the incomplete abortion, Vijayalakshmi started bleeding excessively and developed sepsis. As her condition continued to deteriorate, she was rushed to a private hospital in Hyderabad, five days after the abortion. 
    
“She had three daughters and had delivered twin girls in her second pregnancy. Her third pregnancy was aborted and when she conceived for the fourth time, the family did not want another girl child and pushed her to abort after determining the sex of the foetus,” said D Kalpana Kumari, programme officer, Actionaid. 
    
Activists said that the nursing home in Kodad, a small town, was famous for sex selective abortions and the 28-yearold woman was allegedly not the first to die. “Locals told us that Lakshmi is probably the fifth one to die after a botched up abortion,” Suma Latha, an activist with Gramya Resource Centre for Women, said.
    
While the scanning centre at the nursing home is registered under PCPNDT Act, the facility is not registered under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, they said. 
    
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) data suggests that more than 65% abortions are done by quacks and almost 15% of maternal deaths were due to septic abortions, which killed Vijayalakshmi. 
    
When contacted, Nalgonda district collector N Mukteswara Rao said he was yet to read the fact-finding report. “Whether a sex selective abortion has happened or not, we don’t know. In-laws are denying the information and the doctor said the woman was bleeding and he therefore carried out the abortion,” Rao said. “We have seized the scanning machine in nursing home,” he added. The activists submitted a memorandum to the district collector on Thursday seeking action against those involved.