Nepal is Killing Girl Babies in Abortions Just Because They’re Girls

I have long argued, probably against the grain, that among the Abortion Industry’s primary weaknesses is its cavalier, nay, enthusiastic support for sex-selection abortions–gendercide. You would think killing unborn babies because they are female could touch even the hardest of hearts.

Overseas, there are signs of an awareness, as illustrated by this headline yesterday in The Kathmandu Post (published in Nepal): “Vanishing Girls: Unchecked sex-selective abortions are taking the country down a dangerous road”. Not a pro-life embrace by any stretch of the imagination, but an acknowledgment of what decades of abortion have led to.

The editorial begins by singing the praises of the legalization of abortion in 2002, which “marked a landmark achievement for Nepali women’s reproductive rights and bodily autonomy.” Indeed, the editorial goes on and on in that vein.

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After writing “Nepal appeared ‘progressive’ in legal reforms that protect women,” we suddenly read “female foeticide thus became rampant because of entrenched patriarchal norms.” After reporting that in the fiscal year 2024-25, “105,099 women chose abortion through government-authorised health facilities,” the editorial’s tone switches dramatically:

[A]ccording to the country’s Ministry of Health and Population’s data, of the 383,205 babies born in fiscal year 2024-25, 206,374 were boys and 176,831 were girls, meaning that the number of boys surpassed that of girls by a staggering 16.71 percent.

But the imbalance is an average of 16.71 percent. Boys in the province of Sudurpaschim “outnumber girls by around 25 percent”! And the editorial is honest enough to admit

These numbers could be higher, as many abortion cases don’t make it to official records. Experts warn that if this trend continues grave consequences of gender imbalance—both social and demographic—could soon be visible.

Even though “sex-selective abortion and the identification of sex are prohibited in Nepal,” ultrasounds are readily available as are “over-the-counter abortion pills.” And with more and more families choosing to have only a single child—and “as even those who are educated and living in urban centres seemingly harbour troubling patriarchal values and prefer boys to girls”—prospects are ominous for female babies.

Fines and threats of imprisonment are toothless: “these laws have largely remained symbolic, as, reportedly, no one has been punished under them so far.”

The editorial ends on this “if only” note:

The widening gap in the boys-to-girls birth ratio should be a wake-up call for Nepal. If only existing laws are strictly implemented and medical procedures more closely monitored, many people would be discouraged from performing sex-selective abortions. The consequences of not doing so could be dire—from a drastically falling national workforce to more social crimes. Nor would a country that prefers one gender over others be a healthy one to live in.

But it’s even worse than that! Cassy Cooke, reporting for Live Action News, writes

BMJ [British Medical Journal] researchers also discovered that wealthier and more educated women were more likely to undergo sex-selective abortions. The team also found that in districts with high numbers of sex-selective abortions, girls were disproportionately more likely to die before the age of five than boys — indicating that girls are possibly being killed both before and after birth.

The cost—societal, economic, and most of all moral—beggars the imagination.

LifeNews.com Note: Dave Andrusko is the editor of National Right to Life News and an author and editor of several books on abortion topics. He frequently writes Today’s News and Views — an online opinion column on pro-life issues.

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