Indian women in Norway abort females, study says

MALMO, Sweden — Indian women who live in Norway have been accused of illegally aborting female foetuses by a research team at the national hospital in Oslo.

Hugo Pripp, a researcher in epidemiology and biostatistics at Norway's National Hospital, found that Indian-Norwegian mothers gave birth to only 65 girls per 100 boys after ultrasound technology was introduced in 1987, a ratio that had fallen from 108 girls per 100 boys in the years before that.

"Our study seems to indicate that some parents of Indian origin are practising sex-selective abortion,” Mr Pripp told VG, the Norwegian newspaper which reported the survey.

Anne-Grete Stroem Erichsen, Norway's health minister, said she would immediately notify the national health authority of the survey's results.

"Sex selective abortion is completely unacceptable," she said.

Punjab, the Indian state from where many of the country’s 10,000 Indian citizens come, has long been known for the prevalence of sex-selective abortion, despite the efforts of the Indian government to crack down on the practice.

VG's report was disputed the following day by Preben Aavitsland, the deputy head of the country's National Public Health Institute, who stressed that Pripp and his team had made clear in their paper that the result was provisional.