Annually 1400 baby girls are not born in the country due to selective abortions.
Annually 1400 baby girls are not born in the country due to selective abortions. International statistics proves this practice is mostly exercised in China, Azerbaijan, and Armenia. Puppet Theatre after Hovhannes Tumanyan hosted an event organized within the framework of the “Fight against sex-selective prenatal discrimination”, presenting videos, interactive games and discussions, while the special guests highlighted the importance of raising awareness on the issue.
“The initiative has focused on target audience by choosing future moms. Prior to studying the topic, I thought we were behind in the list of countries leading on selective abortions, however the study proved quite the opposite,” said the president of “Family Academy” NGO Mary Nersisyan. According to her, Gegharkunik and Kotayk regions have the highest rate of abortions. “This will lead to the point when over 93 000 women will not be born in Armenia over the years."
As part of the program “Fight against sex-selective prenatal discrimination” implemented by “Save the Children”, various measures have been taken to raise awareness on the issue both in Yerevan and in the regions. The program aims at reducing the number of sex-selective abortions as much as possible. This is a two-year program funded by the EU.