Cross Posted: Raw Story.com
UN: 7,000 Armenian women chose sex-selective abortion since 2006
More than 7,000 Armenian women have had selective abortions over the past five years, according to a new study carried out by the UN Population Fund with the Armenian health ministry and the Institute of Perinatology.
The gender ratio of births is 110-120 boys to 100 girls, higher than the accepted norm of 102-106 boys to 100 girls, the study said.The trend could cause demographic problems for the small ex-Soviet state, UN Population Fund official Garik Hayrapetyan told a news conference in Yerevan.
“In ten to 20 years, we will face a deficit of women — that means, of potential mothers,” Hayrapetyan said.
Selective abortion is a problem in countries like China and India.
But it has also reached “worrying proportions” in Caucasus states Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly said in a resolution on gender selection in October.
The resolution said that pressure on women to have selective abortions should be seen as “a form of psychological violence”.
[Image via Deb Collins on Flickr, Creative Commons licensed]
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