India Comes Up Short by 12 to 15 Million Girls

It seems a rough audit of girls vs. boys born in the last 30 years or so in India has come up short by about somewhere between 12 to 15 million girls due to “Selective abortion of female foetuses …” by parents (here, and here)

It is likely that a percentage of these ‘abortions’ were not technically medical abortions.

Male children are preferred, especially as the first child.

It seems daughters are viewed as a liability and as she will eventually belong to the family of her husband any expenditure on her is wasted. A boy child is important in order to pass on the family name and wealth.

While this is bad enough in itself there are two perverse twists to this:

• It is the wealthy end of town that are aborting the most girl babies.
• Based on an Oxford University study Indian couples are tending to continue this practice when they migrate (here).