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Selective abortion reaches dangerous climax in Armenia

05 November 2014 [12:32] - TODAY.AZ

/AzerNews/

By Mushvig Mehdiyev

The number of selective abortion cases has increased in Armenia due to unbalanced family relations and the society's discriminative approach towards baby girls.

An MP from the Republican Party Karine Achemyan said the deeply rooted stereotypes in Armenian society is fuelling the bloodcurdling abortions.

"Incorrect mentality of the mothers, mothers-in-law and men are rooted in the traditional stereotypes, which push the young women to do an abortion namely because of their baby's gender. But birth of a baby is a gift from the God," Achemyan said.

Achemyan added that the rampant trend of selective abortions is connected with the incomplete technical progress. "Until recently, we supposed that the war phenomenon was behind the correlation between the gender ratio, but the investigation revealed an aggressive struggle against baby girls in Armenia," she stated.

A baby boy is viewed as the source of security for his parents in the South Caucasus state. So, many women have multiple abortions because of their children's gender.

Rural regions of Armenia are the main places facing the massive number of selective abortions. The traditional relations characterized by lack of social values, ignorance and unawareness have turned the people into baby killers in those regions. Women in the villages are not familiar with the World Health Organization's guidelines which are followed by women all over the world.

Achemyan said selective abortion problem is extremely dangerous in Armenia's Gegarkunik district, as the new beginners at the region's schools are boys.

The government is currently developing a bill to ban selective abortions. The authorities think the legal forbiddance of such kind of abortion can prevent the families from doing it and stabilize the correlation between genders.

The London-Based The Economist magazine, claimed that the abortion rate in Armenia is higher than the EU average and it has the worst abortion trend in the South Caucasus region. World Health Organization reported the abortion rate was 274 per 1,000 in Armenia in 2010.

Meanwhile, the ecologist Karine Danielyan revealed the most dangerous demographic trend for the country. "About 114 boys are born for every 100 girls in our country, while the international norm is 102-106 boys for 100 girls," she noted.

Migration and hard social conditions are among the factors escalating the demographic problem in Armenia. Most of the unemployed men leave the country in search of a job abroad. It consequently causes a lag in demographic progress.

The Health Ministry said the growth of population has dropped by 4.5 times in the country since 1990s and the ongoing trend threatens to cut the population by half until 2030. Index Mundi, the source which contains detailed country statistics, charts, and maps, claims the birth rate in Armenia is 13.92 per 1,000 people.

Danielyan said namely socio-economic situation in Armenia decreases the birth rate. "While the poverty in Armenia is not reduced yet and men do not cease to emigrate from the country, the country will stay in a dangerous cycle, which will lead to the population's regression."

Discriminative approach towards babies based on their genetic variation proves an insanity contradicting the natural rights of a human-being. Birth of each baby, regardless of the gender, is one of the happiest and unforgettable events in one's life. Killing the innocent baby is an unforgivable sin. Children are future of the mankind and future is based on care, attention, and protection they have today. All people in the world, including those in Armenia, should profoundly think before being the murderers of their babies. Killing a baby takes just a few moments but their miraculous creation takes nine months.

URL: http://www.today.az/news/regions/137365.html

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