Selective abortion in Central Asia

In Uzbekistan, approximately 107 boys are born for every 100 girls; in Tajikistan, the figure is as high as 110. This imbalance cannot be explained by natural causes and must be attributed to the practice of abortion when prenatal tests reveal that the foetus is female. This sex selection not only reflects gender discrimination but also entails serious social risks.

Tashkent (AsiaNews) - Patriarchal traditions in Central Asia, combined with modern medical diagnostic technologies, mean that tens of thousands of baby girls are not allowed to be born each year. Among these are sex-selective abortions, in which a woman terminates a pregnancy if she is expecting a daughter. Experts warn that prenatal sex selection not only reflects gender discrimination but also entails serious social risks.

Nafisa, a 50-year-old resident of Tashkent, describes the decision she made as one of the most difficult of her life. At the time, she and her husband had two daughters. When she discovered she was expecting another girl, Nafisa decided to have an abortion, and her husband did not object.

“He adores his daughters and has always spoilt them, but he never hid the fact that he wanted a son. I wanted to have a third child and then stop. If I’d given birth to a daughter, I’d have had to consider a fourth pregnancy because I also wanted a son, and I decided my body wouldn’t be able to cope with the strain – I’m in poor health,” she explains. Two years later, Nafisa became pregnant again: “At the 12-week scan, the doctor said it was very likely to be a boy, so I carried on with the pregnancy despite my health problems and, sure enough, a son was born.”

The cult of the male child as the progenitor of the family line has developed in the East over centuries, but before the spread of ultrasound it was impossible to determine a baby’s sex before birth. Ultrasound and modern blood tests have changed this situation and, in doing so, have paved the way for selective abortion – that is, discrimination against baby girls even before birth.

In most countries, 105 boys are born for every 100 girls, but there are exceptions: two Central Asian countries, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, show a disparity whereby in Uzbekistan around 107 boys are born for every 100 girls, and in Tajikistan 110. This imbalance is attributed to women resorting to abortion if medical tests reveal they are expecting a girl. This often occurs under pressure from husbands and relatives.

The preference for male children is already causing demographic imbalances in Uzbekistan; according to official statistics, over the last twenty-five years 650,000 fewer girls than boys have been born in the country, and a similar, consistent trend has also been observed for several years in neighbouring Tajikistan. Farangis Mamadbokirova, a geneticist and co-founder of the Vita Centre for Medical Genetics in Dushanbe, explains why this imbalance is not natural from a biological point of view.

“In men, sperm with X and Y chromosomes are produced in almost equal numbers: 50/50. This means that the chances of having a boy or a girl are essentially the same, and even taking into account certain biological variations, these cannot produce such a marked imbalance at a national level.”

Nevertheless, the belief that the woman is ‘responsible’ for the baby’s sex remains widespread in society; if a family does not have a son, the blame is often placed on the mother. “In our society, the mistaken belief still persists that having a son automatically confers social status on a man, proving that he is a ‘real man’. Unfortunately, the population’s lack of education and strong traditions lead people to make the wrong life choices,” observes psychologist Muazzam Ibragimova.

An ancient practice involves “magic names”: if several girls were born in succession, in Tajikistan the youngest would be given names intended to “stop” the birth of more girls and “invoke” the long-awaited son. The second, third or fourth daughter might be called Kifoya (enough), Basgul (enough flowers, i.e. girls), or Khotima (last), names that express the direct hope that the family’s next child will be a boy.

Similar practices exist in other countries in the region, with Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Turkmen and Uzbek “magic names”.

The result is that the number of women is declining, and they are facing ever-increasing pressure. Ten years ago, the United Nations declared that there was a shortage of at least 170 million women in the countries of South, South-East and Central Asia, as the inhabitants of these regions of the world traditionally prefer to have sons and resort to sex-selective abortion. The UN defined prenatal sex selection as “an abominable form of discrimination that must be eliminated”.