* * * Jharkhand News * ** ** **
** * * ** ** Deleting girls and unsafe abortions Savita Joglekar, a mother of two, didn't realise what she was getting into when she visited a local dai (midwife) in her village in Maharashtra, to abort an unwanted pregnancy. The dai gave her a bitter concoction and an abdominal massage and told her to return later. The next day, after hearing that she had not bled, the dai inserted a stick into her private parts. Running a high temperature and crying out in pain, Savita had to be rushed to a hospital. The doctors were shocked to see her — her uterus was badly damaged and the intestines were punctured. Luckily, she was saved in time. In a country where over 18,000 women die every year due to unsafe abortions, Savita is one of the few survivors. It's a sad reality that 8% of all maternal deaths are due to unsafe abortions. An estimated four million women undergo unsafe abortions every year in India — one-fifth of the global figures. Abortion is still a dirty word and most women, especially in rural India, shy away from seeking legal medical help. As a result, most of them end up visiting the local dai. "It's only when things get out of control that they visit a primary health centre. It's the last resort in most cases. By the time a doctor sees them, many of them are beyond help," says Elizabeth S Maguire, president and CEO, Ipas. The NGO works with the National Rural Health Mission to reduce maternal deaths due to unsafe abortions. In a few cases, the women have been so badly injured that they have no chance of ever becoming pregnant again. Take Lily Toppo's case. When the 14-year-old schoolgirl became pregnant, her family took her to a local nurse in their village in Jharkhand for a secret abortion. While doing the procedure, the nurse perforated the rectum. And it was 48 hours before the girl was rushed to a hospital and operated upon. Three months later, the doctors are still not sure whether she can get pregnant again. A study done by Ipas in 2007 in Jharkhand, found that 20% of the reported abortions were carried out at home through unsafe methods, of which 51% women had post-abortion complications. A similar study in Madhya Pradesh, conducted in 10 hospitals, showed that 29% women brought to the hospitals, suffered from post-abortion complications. In 67% women, complications included incomplete or failed abortions. Yet another study undertaken in 2000 by King Edward's Medical College highlighted that 67% women admitted to hospitals in Maharashtra, reported complications, of which 6% were life-threatening while 3% resulted in deaths. In Puducherry, a survey done by Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research in 1999 found that 41.8% suffered from post-abortion complications and 24% had to be hospitalised. Unfortunately, few women are aware that the quite common, but unsafe, method of dilation and curettage (D&C) is a big reason for complications. The WHO guidelines clearly state that this method increases the risk of complications. It advises that either medical vacuum aspiration or medical abortion should be followed. Safe techniques not only save a woman's life but money too. It was found that after safe techniques were introduced in South Africa, deaths from unsafe abortions dropped by 91%. But what stops most women from visiting a hospital is the lack of legal abortion facilities closer to their homes. "The government mandates that every primary health centre must provide legal abortion service but in reality, that doesn't happen," points out Vinoj Manning, country director, Ipas. Also, very few trained service providers are available today, making it difficult for PHCs to provide services. Besides, while very few women (just 13%) are aware that abortion is legal, only 0.3% know that it's legal to abort up to 20 weeks of pregnancy. Contrary to popular wisdom, it's the married women who opt for abortions. "In rural areas, most girls get married young and have children while in their teens. When they don't want more kids, they try to abort," says Manning. Despite all efforts, the problem still persists. As Maguire says, "Safe abortion is not just about health; it's a human rights issue. It's about women's empowerment." For women like Savita, it's more than that — it's their right to life. timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Deep_Focus/Unsafe_abortions_a_silent_scourge/articleshow/3049870.cms Women Reservation Bill IN THIS session of Parliament if something keeps our Member of Parliament (MP) shouting, along with increasing inflation, it is the Women Reservation Bill. Those who are opposed to this Bill for their own manufactured logic are crying foul on the introduction of the Bill in the Upper House. A few are selling the logic of million discrepancies in the Bill. These sellers are none other than self-styled socialist groups of this nation, who never hesitated in dealing with Saharas and Ambanis of the world, despite carrying the flag of socialism. Hope that there are few buyers of their logic and the progressive gentry of this nation is more than happy that finally the Bill has been tabled. What will happen to it is a matter yet to be decided. Keeping the present opposition, nobody can predict the outcome but still congratulations to all those who bravely defended the Bill inside the Upper House of the Parliament, and all the best for the future where more hurdles to stop the Bill are expected. Citing the argument of inconsistency for differing on the Bill and call for a debate is one thing, but rejecting it is not acceptable. Those who are opposed to the Women's Reservation Bill must understand that condition of women in this nation by no scale is satisfactory. Government needs applause for its painstaking effort in bringing the Bill on the table, but there are some critical issues, which require efficient handling on the part of the government and by the women's movement of our nation. If we just take the Gender Development Index of the World, the position of India is reprehensible. United Nations Development Programme prepares this Gender Development Index. In last five years, that is from year 2000 to 2005, position of India dipped from 105 to 113. The sex ratio in India is the nastiest in South Asia and comes to worst from bad in the Census report of 1901 to 2001. As per the Census of 1901, the sex ratio in India was 972 women to 1,000 men, which in 2001 Census came down to 933 women, per 1000 men. The girl child is looked upon as a burden by our society and people apply all possible methods to stop the birth of a girl child. The girl child is slaughtered mercilessly in the mother's womb and according to reports, around 50 million women are missing because of female foeticide in India. Apart from this, women are also subject to mental and physical torture for giving birth to a girl child. In Indian society, women are considered as personal possession and are viewed as the honour of family and society. This patriarchal mindset restricts freedom of women and pressurises them to act according to the set paradigm of the society, with no role of intervention in decision-making. In majority of cases, from the level of education to the choice of a life partner, voice of family prevails, leaving lesser scope for individual preference. In addition, after the marriage, women face oppression, but she bears it for the shake of her family, the biggest institution of our society. Those who resist rarely finds a voice of support in both sides of their family. Inside the locked doors of family prestige, many crimes against women are a regular feature, but majority of them go unreported. If we believe the reports then the majority of women are sexually harassed by people they are well acquainted with. In numerous cases culprits are close relatives and family friends but women keep mum for the sake of honour and to avoid the social stigma, which is a product of this patriarchal society. A girl in a family is like an added burden as to look after her and to ensure that all traditional criteria remains intact is difficult. Sometime if the girl tries to break this chain then in majority of cases, the same chain becomes a death tag for her. From caste panchayats to religious leaders, they only pronounce death sentence for such girls. Dowry is another such social evil, which has crippled our society since long and with the passage of time demand for dowry has increased. Law prohibiting dowry is in place from 1961, but this law is broken in the presence of leaders to judges in several marriage ceremonies. Bluff with the anti-dowry law is easy by using different terminologies like gift, offering, part of tradition, etc. According to the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB), one dowry death is reported in every 77 minutes. Domestic violence has direct correlation with dowry in our society. The increasing demand of dowry, particularly in the middle class has made the life of women more vulnerable. Parents in the fear of giving dowry do not want a girl child. These are some of the most visible aliments and there are other deep-rooted problems, which need immediate attention. Through women's reservation in the Parliament at least, would ensured that in important decisions of the nation this deprived gender will have a vital say. Many of those, who are opposed to women's reservations in Parliament, consider Mahatama Jyoti Rao Phule as their ideal. Mahatama Phule, the father of social reforms in India considered women equally defenseless, along with other deprived sections of the society. Phule even started a school for women in which anyone could come. The visionary Phule was well aware of the fact that irrespective of caste, women are subject to oppression in the society. Taking the present Women's Reservation Bill on the path advocated by Phule, we must support it unequivocally. There are many battles where more strong fight is required and we've not been able to make any breakthrough till date. Women Reservation Bill is a step in right direction and those opposed to it for whatever reasons are only defending the age-old patriarchal mindset. The scope for debate will always exist and contentious issues must be resolved amicably, but taking a position per say against women's reservation is only helping those who want to retain patriarchal values by any means. Rome was not built in a day and much needs to be done. Every Bill has a scope of amendment and no one is averse to positive suggestions, but stalling it is wrong and should be condemned. Keeping the poor record of our nation in World Gender Index, let us hope that sense will prevail in some of our leaders and more efforts to ameliorate the status of women would be taken, rather than maintaining the status quo. merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=133956&catID=2&category=India ** <http://www.jharkhand.org.in/contact.htm> . * News TV <http://www.indian-tv.blogspot.com/> Blog <http://www.jharkhand.org.in/blog> Photo <http://www.jharkhand.org.in/photo> Music <http://www.jharkhandi.org/music.htm> Video <http://www.jharkhandi.org/video.htm> Live Chat <http://www.jharkhand.org.in/live> Directory <http://www.jharkhand.org.in/directory> Testimonials <http://www.jharkhand.org.in/directory> Forum <http://yahoogroups.com/group/jharkhand> Contact <http://www.jharkhand.org.in/contact.htm> . * -- Jharkhand News [EMAIL PROTECTED] Jharkhand Online Network www.jharkhand.org.in/news
