Browsing: Selective Abortion

Selective abortion, or sex-selective abortion, is the practice of aborting a fetus on the basis of its sex. In Bangladesh, the use of ultrasonography to determine the sex of a fetus has led to the selective abortion of female fetuses due to the country’s patriarchal traditions. This has resulted in a decline in the natural sex ratio (SR) and poses challenges to maternal and child health. Abortion is illegal in Bangladesh except in cases where it is required to save a woman’s life. However, nearly 1,194,000 abortions were performed in 2014 alone, many of them by untrained providers and/or in unsafe conditions.