Shocked!

It's always a challenge to comment on complex social issues in an accessible, fair and yet personal/compassionate manner... For me, this ecommentary is a classic of combining these elements and the 'kungfu' level I hope to attain.

Shocked
by Soo-Inn Tan, 16 Jan 2006
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I remember my mum hinting that my beloved Teochew nanny may have lost her daughter in very tragic circumstances. Sons were prized in China. Daughters were not. Apparently, when her daughter was born, they tore her from her mother's arms and threw the new born child into the river. That was a long time ago. Things have gotten much worse since. Here is part of an article from the January 9th 2006 issue of the Guardian Online.

The births of up to 10 million girls in India may have been prevented by selective abortion in the past 20 years, researchers say today. Half a million babies are aborted every year because they are girls, even though termination on the grounds of gender was outlawed in India in 1994, according to a study published online by the Lancet medical journal."

"If this practice has been common for most of the past two decades since access to ultrasound became widespread, then a figure of 10 million missing female births would not be unreasonable."

READ ON FOR THE FULL ARTICLE