& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Cashing in on unwanted pregnancy

SABRINA KARIM MURSHED
Twenty-day-old Shohag was fortunate enough to secure refuge at a non-governmental organisation (NGO) two hours after his birth. Or else, he would have met the same fate as inevitable for an unwanted child: smothered with a pillow or drowned in a water-filled bucket.
Just thinking about the corpse of a baby wrapped in polythene and dumped in the dustbin makes one shudder, but that is happening every other day in the city. Most of them are full-grown
babies killed in clinics and nursing homes that have mushroomed over the years and are continuing their business by cashing in on social stigma tagged with unwanted pregnancy.
According to medical experts, abortion of a foetus should be done within eight to ten weeks of fertilisation, otherwise it may cause health hazards to the mother. But in most cases, it is done much later when the foetus is full-grown. Some babies are delivered normally but abandoned right after birth. According to the contract with the mother,
the abortionist is tasked with killing the baby.
"I got a number of phone calls from nurses or midwives asking if I will receive a baby that did not die even after an attempt to kill it," Dr Dilruba said of her gruesome experience. Dilruba is director of the Centre for Training and Rehabilitation of Destitute Women, an NGO offering shelter to abandoned carrying mothers and babies.
Dilruba said these babies hardly reach her organisation as clinic or nursing-home people do not want to disclose their identity. "We even ask them to leave the
babies at the door of our office but hardly get any response," she said.
The law prohibits abortion of a foetus, unless it is necessary under medical considerations, sources said. It can take place only when the mother's life is at risk. But a set of doctors and family welfare visitors (FWV) performs abortions illegally, of course -- in exchange for a hefty amount of money.
Well-known clinics and hospitals do not perform it on their own premises but have other places to do it. Sources said abortion is being done even in government hospitals in the name of menstrual regulation.
A large number of clinics have abortionists without any technical knowledge. They are continuing services at the cost of their client's health. A well-known nursing home at section 12 of Mirpur is owned and run by a woman who is neither a doctor, nor a nurse.
Once happened to be an ayah to a doctor, the woman is continuing providing healthcare to women.
Almost 95 per cent of the women opting for abortion are maidens. Some of them are trafficked women, some rape victims and some victims of incest, while some are exploited in the name of marriage.
The women who do not want to be socially stigmatised are easily exploited. The abortion charge ranges from Tk 500 to Tk 20,000. The abortionist charges Tk 2,000 more, if he or she disposes of the body just in case the client is reluctant to do so.