A-Okay

Yes, Rakaposh, the female to male ratio in India is really messed up. When I was doing NGO work in the late 80`s it was already around 982 to 1000. Of course, in most countries, the ratio is in the other direction. It is really tragic. However, since most people cannot afford pre-birth sex determination there are other factors at work. Female infanticide (infants being buried alive, fed poison, left outside in winter to die) dowry deaths, health care a lower priority for females, etc. etc.

Are any of these better options than abortion? Is it better to give birth (if unwanted, one can only guess how bad prenatal care would be) and then kill the baby?

This is turning out to be an interesting discussion. :-)

uff. I almost felt the pain Maliha went through....

Are abortions legal in Pakistan ? or they have to justify a genetic disease or malformation ? or you give them whatever money they want and no questions asked ?

I was recently talking to an Indian friend who told me the ratio of girl to a boy has gone down significantly in India in the last few years.
why ? because they are given hints during the ultrasound ( asking or telling about sex of the baby is illegal in India ,on ultrasound ), about the sex of the child. If its turning out to be a girl, people go and have abortions done.

arent we back to the ages where girls were buried alive after birth ?

Well, according to my professor ``all marriage is an institutionalized prostitution.`` Men get to have sex, feel accepted in the society, now that they are married. Women on the other hand get to have financial security, the house, the status of a woman (many people don’t think a girl is a woman unless she is married and becomes a mother), and then some. So go figure. Unmarried couples should use condoms to avoid unwanted pregnancies, and if the married couples don`t want more kids, they should also avail themselves of what else...condoms. Whatever you do in your bedroom is none of my business. If that doctor is taking the money in order to perform the abortion. He is not doing it out of pity. He is being paid for it and better do it right, otherwise his ass is mine.

Abortion is not wrong in all cases. Sometimes it might be necessary. However I do think it is wrong to use it as a type of birth control.

Sonia, this was an interesting topic and was well written in parts. However, I really failed to understand what this was about. There are some possibilities:

1. Unmarried mothers should be accepted by society (ok)
2. Married women (or even unmarried ones) should not have abortions (hmmm)
3. It is better to be an unmarried mother than for anyone to have an abortion (hmmmm?)

It was interesting to see the juxtaposition of the experiences of the two sisters, but it left me wanting more. Was this supposed to be social commentary? A pro-life position? A description of abortion from two angles?

If it is an opinion piece I would like to know where the writer stands? Having said that, I am glad to see this on chowk and I think it will (and should) garner some interesting discussions.