Baby girls aborted in UK clinics — with no questions asked

[email protected] (News Network)
February 25, 2012

unborn_baby

London, February 25: Women are being granted illegal abortions by doctors in Britain based on the sex of their unborn baby, an undercover investigation by The Daily Telegraphcan disclose.


Doctors at the country's clinics have been secretly filmed agreeing to terminate foetuses purely because they are either male or female.


Clinicians admitted they were prepared to falsify paperwork to arrange the abortions even though it is illegal to conduct such "sex-selection" procedures.


Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary, said on Wednesday: "I'm extremely concerned to hear about these allegations. Sex selection is illegal and is morally wrong. I've asked my officials to investigate this as a matter of urgency."


The disclosures will add to growing concerns about the regulation of abortion clinics and the apparent ability of women to secure terminations "on demand".


The Daily Telegraph carried out an investigation into sex-selection abortions after concerns were raised the procedures were becoming increasingly common for cultural and social reasons.


Acting on specific information, undercover reporters accompanied pregnant women to nine clinics in different parts of the country. In three instances doctors were recorded offering to arrange terminations after being told the mother-to-be did not want to go ahead with the pregnancy because of the sex of the unborn child.


One consultant, Prabha Sivaraman, who works for both private clinics and NHS hospitals in Manchester, was filmed telling a pregnant woman who said she wanted to abort a female foetus: "I don't ask questions. If you want a termination, you want a termination."


She later telephoned a colleague to book the procedure, explaining that it was for "social reasons" and the woman "doesn't want questions asked".


She said to her colleague: "This [the termination] will be under private, she doesn't want to go through NHS. OK, so — that's right, because you're part of our team and she doesn't want questions asked."


Family balancing


Sivaraman, who works for Pall Mall Medical in Manchester and is an obstetrician and gynaecologist at North Manchester General Hospital, said the cost of the termination would be £200 (Dh1,152) or £300, on top of the £500 already paid to the clinic for the consultation. After taking the woman's contact details, Sivaraman asked her if she had considered her options. "Oh, absolutely I can't have it, this baby, because of the gender, so that's just how it is," replied the woman.


The doctor booked the pregnant woman in for a termination the following week despite the reason for the abortion being clearly explained.


Last year, the Council of Europe recommended member states, including Britain, stop telling parents the gender of their baby because of concerns this was encouraging sex-selection abortions. Most hospitals have stopped giving parents this information. However, blood tests that disclose the sex of a foetus are widely available on the internet or abroad.

An undercover reporter calling an abortion advice line was also told private clinics would be able to offer a scan — for a fee. Abortions for non-medical reasons are legal until 24 weeks, but terminations on grounds of sex of the foetus are illegal under the 1967 Abortion Act.


Sex selection claims


The British government on Thursday vowed to investigate newspaper reports that doctors illegally approved abortions that were requested due to the sex of the unborn child.


The Daily Telegraph claimed it had hidden camera footage which showed doctors at British clinics offering to falsify paperwork in order to allow women to have terminations based on gender.


Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said he was "extremely concerned" by the allegations. "Sex selection is illegal and is morally wrong," he said. "I've asked my officials to investigate this as a matter of urgency."


According to the Telegraph, undercover reporters accompanied pregnant woman to nine different clinics across the country. Doctors at three out of the nine clinics agreed to arrange terminations even though the woman claimed she did not want the baby due to its sex, the paper claimed.


Abortions in Britain are allowed in limited circumstances, including when the pregnancy presents a serious mental or physical health risk to the mother and if there is a high chance the child would have severe disabilities.


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Agencies
May 25,2020

Hyderabad, May 25: Indicating foul play in the death of nine people, including six of a family, whose bodies were fished out from a well near Warangal, a forensic expert on Sunday virtually ruled out suicide theory, saying it appeared seven of them had been dragged and thrown into the water body.

Mystery shrouded the death of nine people, including six of a family, whose bodies were found in a well, five of them on Friday and four on Thursday, on the outskirts of Warangal in Telangana.

Police stepped up the probe and forensic analysis was also underway in the case.

The forensic expert, who visited the crime scene as part of the investigation citing preliminary tests, said that the seven of nine people had scratch injuries and appeared to have been "dragged" and "thrown" into the well.

Forensic reports are expected in 10 days, the forensic expert told media on Sunday adding after examining the crime scene it appears that the deaths were not suicides.

"We have preserved all organs and the same were sent to forensic science laboratory (FSL) for examination... some two or three persons might have been involved in the crime. There are scratch injuries on the bodies," he said.

"It appears that they were thrown into the water... There were no injuries on the child's body. We are awaiting the forensic report (to ascertain) whether they were poisoned. It didn't appear as if they committed suicide," the expert, who performed the post-mortem said.

Police sources said at least two people were picked up for questioning.

Bodies of the head of the family, wife, daughter and three-year old grandson were found floating and fished out on Thursday.

On Friday morning, some bodies were seen floating following which police pumped out the water from the well and found others.

The 48-year old man had migrated from West Bengal over 20 years ago and had settled down here. His family had been staying in two rooms on the premises of the unit, police had earlier said.

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News Network
July 19,2020

New Delhi, Jul 19: At least six people were killed and 20 injured when a bus overturned after colliding with a private vehicle at Agra - Lucknow Expressway in the wee hours of Sunday. According to initial reports, the bus carrying around 40 passengers toppled after hitting a stranded SUV at around 5 am, 122 km from Lucknow.

A police team reached the spot within a few minutes of the accident and rescued the injured with the help of locals. They were rushed to a nearby hospital. “Five passengers were killed on the spot while another died minutes after reaching the hospital,” Hindustan Times quoted Kannauj DSP Amarendra PD Singh as saying.

Around 20 other passengers have also sustained injuries who were admitted to the hospital, the police said. The bus had started from Bihar's Darbhanga and was en route to Delhi. "The private bus was coming from Darbangha and going to Delhi when it hit a car. Both the vehicles came down from the highway," a senior police official told news agency ANI.

Meanwhile, authorities are trying to ascertain the identity of the deceased. UP CM Yogi Adityanath expressed over the loss of lives and directed officials to ensure all help to the victims.

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Agencies
January 16,2020

Cuttack, Jan 16: At least 15 passengers were injured as five coaches of the Mumbai-Bhubaneswar Lokmanya Tilak Express derailed and three more were displaced after colliding with a goods train amid heavy fog near Cuttack in Odisha on Thursday, railway officials said.

Railway officials had earlier said that 25 passengers were injured in the incident but later officers who reached the site reported that four passengers were found to have suffered major injuries and 11 had received minor injuries.

Passengers with major injuries have been sent to Cuttack Medical College. All passengers are stated to be out of danger.

Officials said the accident happened when the passenger train hit the guard van of a good train around 7 am between Salagaon and Nergundi stations.

The officials said there was heavy fog at the site but it was not clear what led to the accident. The speedometer of both the trains have been seized for inquiry, East Coast Railway Spokesperson J P Mishra said.

Buses have been arranged for all remaining passengers to move towards their destination.

Cuttack is around 10-12 km away and Bhubaneswar(Terminating station) is 35 km.

The accident disrupted train services in the area.

Five trains have been affected due to the accident where restoration work in underway. These include the Bhubaneswar-Mumbai LTT SF Express, the Puri-Rourkela Express, Dhanbad-Bhubaneshwar Rajyarani Express which have all been diverted via Naraj.

"East Coast Railway acknowledges with deep gratitude help of nearby locals and villagers who have displayed great humanitarian values and come to the rescue of injured passengers," Mishra said.

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