Is Abortion Legal? 19 Aborted Female Fetuses Discovered In India Following Death Of Pregnant Woman

Authorities in India were on the hunt for a private hospital doctor they said was responsible for the death of a 26-year-old woman whom he performed an abortion on, according to reports Sunday. Dr. Babasaheb Khidrapure, a homeopathy doctor in western Maharashtra, was also suspected of being responsible for the abortions of 19 female fetuses, which police discovered in Mhaisal village just days after the woman’s death.

Police Superintendent Dattaray Shinde told local media that the fetuses remains were found buried near a stream. It was clear that they were put there with the “intention of disposing them,” the superintendent added.

Police found the fetuses' remains after villagers in the Sangli district came forward with concerns regarding the woman’s untimely death. Late last month, Khidrapure reportedly performed an abortion on the woman after she and her husband, Praveen Jamdade, discovered she was pregnant with their third daughter.

"As the villagers suspected a foul play in the woman’s death, they approached police, following which the racket was busted," Shinde explained. "The deceased woman's father Sunil Jadhav told police that Jamdade had called him and expressed his willingness to abort the female fetus. Despite Jadhav's objection, Jamdade went ahead with abortion, in which the woman died."

Khidrapure was reportedly still on the run following the woman's death.

Maharashtra has a longstanding history of female feticide, an illegal practice in which parents take a test to determine the sex of a child and then attempt to terminate a pregnancy upon learning the baby is not a male. Along with gender identifying tests, abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy are also illegal in India.

Due to the ongoing practice of female feticide, the national average sex ratio in India was 940 females for every 1,000 males, according to a 2011 census. In Maharashtra, the sex ratio was below the national average with just 929 females for every 1,000 males.

In the U.S., where abortion is legal, more than 664,000 abortions were performed in 2013, according to the Centers for Disease Control.