Husband 'Forces Wife To Undergo 8 Abortions, Take 1,500 Steroid Injections For Male Child'

A 40-year-old woman in India has approached police against her husband, who allegedly forced her to undergo eight abortions and take 1,500 steroid injections so that she could have a male child.

According to a Daily News Analysis report, the shocking case of domestic abuse happened in the Indian city of Mumbai. Police have registered a case of abuse and started an investigation.

The woman said that she was married into a highly educated family in 2007. Her husband and mother-in-law are both lawyers and are economically very sound, the report said.

The woman in her complaint said that she got pregnant and gave birth to a baby girl in 2009. But she said her husband was not happy about the girl and insisted on having a boy child "to protect his family and property."

The woman said that she became pregnant again in 2011. This time, the husband forced her to terminate the pregnancy by telling the doctor they didn't want a child.

After the incident, the abuses began to increase, the woman said. She said she got pregnant eight times after that, and each time, her husband forced her to terminate the pregnancy because it wasn't a boy child.

Pre-natal sex determination and gender selection are illegal in India and are punishable under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994.

According to reports, the woman’s husband then took her to Bangkok for a pre-implantation genetic diagnosis. She was forced to undergo treatment and surgery to select the sex of the embryo before conception. For this, she was forced to take more than 1,500 hormonal and steroid injections.

The woman alleged in her complaint that all these measures and treatments were carried out without her consent and she had to face continuous physical and mental abuse.

A similar case was reported in June in the Indian state of Maharastra. A man was arrested for allegedly holding his wife captive for not delivering a baby boy. Police said the man had been sexually abusing his wife for years.

The incident came to light after a passerby accidentally came across an SOS note dropped by the victim outside her house. She alleged that she was forced to undergo multiple abortions. The suspect was detained on charges of rape and other relevant charges under the Indian Penal code.