Contraceptive failure is the most common cause for unwanted pregnancies in India, a survey has found.
Such unplanned pregnancies very often end up in abortions and is prevalent among women in the age group of 15-24 years, according to the survey conducted by Ipas Development Foundation.
It surveyed over three lakh women who had sought to terminate their pregnancies.
More than 80 per cent abortions in India are a result of contraceptive failure. While the percentage is 79 per cent among women below the age of 24, for those over 24, the percentage goes up marginally to 82 per cent, it said.
"This suggest even those young women who have exposure to modern technologies (amenities and thoughts) are not aware of sexual and reproductive health issues," said Dr Sushanta Banerjee, Senior Director, Research and Evaluation.
As per another study among young women, more than 90 per cent young women do not have any knowledge about sex and pregnancy and more than half of the young women do not have correct knowledge on oral contraceptive pills.
Only 1 per cent to 2 per cent pregnancies are terminated for congenital abnormalities in the fetus while abortion in the case of rape survivors is negligible, the analysis suggests.
Ipas Development Foundation (Ipas India) is an organisation working with the government in providing comprehensive abortion care services in the country.
Shockingly, the autopsy record showed that out of 70
newborns found abandoned in south Delhi during the 17-year period, 54 had been murdered.
45 of them had suffered injury on the head by a blunt force, five were smothered, three strangulated and one had the throat slit, indicating a particularly cruel attitude. Other causes of death included natural or accidental like pneumonia, congenital diseases or hypothermia and accidental suffocation, the study said.
Among the 238 foetuses, 115 (48 per cent) were males and 110 (46 per cent) were females. Sex of the foetus could not be ascertained in 13 cases either due to early gestational age or due to the advanced stage of decomposition, the study said.
It revealed that the place of disposal of the discarded foetus or a post-natal victim was mainly the roadside or blind lanes (40 per cent), followed by rivers and drains (20 per cent).
"Bodies were also recovered from dustbins, parks, jungles, railway stations, bus stands, religious places, schools and hospitals. The place of recovery could not be ascertained in 24 cases," it said, while calling for strict measures in cases of abandoning and killing of newborns.
"Abandoned foetuses and newborns constituted about 1 per cent (range, 0.54-1.82 per cent) of the total autopsies con- ducted during the 17-year period. A trend of a growing number of cases with increasing gestational age was observed," the AIIMS study said.
Behera said this is possibly the "first of its kind study and though there have always been news reports from different parts of the country regarding recovery of abandoned foetuses and newborns, to our knowledge, statistical data on the subject are scarce."
A previous report, published in 2008, from south Delhi highlighted the sudden increase in the number of sex selective abortions after antenatal sex determination became freely available in India.
"We studied and analysed the records of all the medico- legal autopsies conducted at the AIIMS from 1996 to 2012 for foetuses and newborns. The details of these cases were sourced from the autopsy records and the inquest papers of the investigating officer," Behera said.
The data were analysed for yearly distribution, gender, gestational age, viability at birth, cause and manner of deaths in liveborn, and location of recovery of the bodies.
"We are thinking of conducting a study for data available from 2013 onwards on the same subject. During the previous study our jurisdiction area involved only south Delhi but now it also includes south-east Delhi," he said.
"For central Delhi, the cases go to Maulana Azad Medical College, for north Delhi Lady Hardinge Medical College and for south-west either Safdarjung Hospital or DDU Hospital. The cases of abandoning of foetuses and newborns in these areas have not been studied though," he said.
