Statistics: Abortion and abandoned new born infants in Pakistan

890,000 abortions were performed in Pakistan in 2002, a rate of 29 abortions per 1,000 women of reproductive age (15–49) annually.[1 ] It is mostly obtained in clandestine clinics. [ 2] In the absence of monitoring mechanism and lack of seriousness on the part of government, it is impossible to ascertain how many abortions have been conducted from 2003 till 2011. It has been reported that most of the abortion cases done with young girls.[3 ]

According to Edhi Foundation every day a score of children left in cradles outside Edhi Homes implicates that people are willingly abandoning children. Just 20 abandoned babies are found only in Karachi every day; majority of them dead. Majority of children are found in garbage dumps, sewers, in drains, dustbins, bushes, barren houses.[4 ] There is no formal system to monitor and record children being abandoned alive or found dead.[ 5]

In 2010, 1,200 newborns were killed and dumped.[6 ] In 2011, Edhi Foundation collected 485 bodies of newborn babies in Pakistan excluding 171 alive babies put into Edhi cradles.[7 ] From January till March 2012, Edhi Foundation had gathered 180 newborn bodies and 78 babies were found in Edhi’s cradles.[ 8]

Footnotes

[1]Abella, F (2009), Clandestine and Unsafe Abortions are common in Pakistan and Threaten Women's Health And Lives; News Release by Media Center, Guttmacher Institute, New York.

[2] The National Committee for Maternal and Neonatal Health (NCMNH) and the Guttmacher Institute

[3] Abella, F (2009), Clandestine and Unsafe Abortions are common in Pakistan and Threaten Women's Health And Lives; News Release by Media Center, Guttmacher Institute, New York

[4] Hussain, J. S. (2011), 15 abandoned babies found; The Nation, January 1, 2011

[5] Mumtaz, H. (2012), Left to die; Dawn Newspaper, March 19, 2012

[6] Sayah, R. (2011), CNN: Killing of infants on the rise in Pakistan; Aired on CNC, July 20, 2011

[7] The News International (2012), Newborn boy found strangled; March 15, 2012

[8] Mumtaz, H. (2012), Left to die; Dawn Newspaper, March 19, 2012