A laborer in Khatima, India noticed a small arm and leg buried in a field, only to discover that a newborn baby girl was buried alive in a shallow grave. Rescuers were able to get her out and she is now in the hospital making a recovery.
This type of tragic event happens more often than anyone might expect. In December of 2019, gravediggers found a three-day-old girl wrapped in a swaddle while digging a grave for a stillborn child.
Earlier that year in January, a three-week-old baby girl was found in Uttar Pradesh, luckily still alive, by someone who heard her cries through the ground.
“Sex-selective abortion and infanticide is a deeply wrong and sad phenomenon. Fortunately, this baby girl was rescued but many are not so lucky.” – Catherine Robinson, Right To Life UK’s spokesperson
Sex selective abortions are becoming an increasingly widespread problem. The Indian government estimates upwards of 63 million women are missing from their country’s population.
Researchers have found that in just a single decade, approximately 5 million female babies will be aborted due to sex selective abortion and the preference for male children.
It was even found while looking at certain villages in India during a 3 month period in 2019, out of 216 births, not a single birth was female. Social worker Kalpana Thakur says,
“No girl child was born for three months in these villages. It cannot be just a coincidence. This clearly indicates female foeticide is taking place in the district. The government and the administration are not doing anything.”
Regardless of a human’s biological sex, they have the right to not be killed or have violent action taken against them. While India still has a long way to go as far as culturally valuing girl babies the same as boy babies, hope is not completely lost. According to The Guardian, certain organizations, the media, and even some celebrities, “… have all tried to alter these attitudes, and in some states government officials visit the homes where baby girls have been born to make a point of celebrating their arrival.”
College student, Catholic, journalist, and writer. Jeremiah 1:15. Passionate about all life, from conception to natural death, no matter what.
