Silent genocide kills 1,000 per day

Suraj A. Bandara

It is said that around 1,000 abortions are conducted per day resulting in over 300,000 silent genocide per year is taking place in Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Family Health Bureau sources said.

Though abortion is illegal in Sri Lanka and police raid many abortion clinics run by quacks throughout the country. Some abortion clinics have been in operation for many years on the sly. These quacks who are not experienced in standard surgical practices charge huge money from the victims. A spokesman for the Bureau said most of the abortion centres have registered themselves with Health Ministry in the guise of family planning centres.

Free Trade Zone women workers who are being exploited in every conceivable way are said to be frequent visitors to these unhygienic abortion centres.

These centres charge low amount compared with the developed abortion centres that make risk free abortions, he said. However, abortion is illegal in Sri Lanka. The poor FTZ girls who know nothing about safe sex become easy victims resulting in unwanted pregnancy. The choice they have is between an abortion or suicide. They go to cheap places despite the risks they run, including HIV infection, he said.

He further said rape and incest are also causes of unwanted pregnancies that lead to abortions. But the majority of them are said be due to casual sexual relationships prevalent among the unmarried couples and reluctance to practise proper family planning methods.

Even school girls in urban areas are said to be among those who seek pregnancy terminations. This situation points to the need for creating better awareness among students about sex and allied matters, he said.

He said “most of the Sri Lankans acquire their knowledge about sex from their peers and through porn movies and magazines that are popular among youth especially among school children. There is a big demand among students to visit porn sites through mobile phones. This is something that educationists should give serious thought to, he said.