Tanya Davies recounts western Sydney mum’s shocking sex-selection abortion story

Liberal MP Tanya Davies has recounted a heart wrenching story of an Indian woman living in western Sydney with her four daughters who was abandoned by her husband.

Edward Boyd

@eboyd_journo

less than 2 min read

August 20, 2019 - 9:34PM

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A Sydney woman of Indian descent has revealed a shocking culture within the Sikh community of aborting female foetuses — recounting a family member who aborted 17 times before conceiving a boy.

The mother, who asked to be known by the pseudonym Jasprit, said her Sikh husband abandoned her and their four daughters after she refused to abort the pregnancies.

Jasprit believes situations like hers are common within the Sikh community, and decided to speak out after hearing Liberal MP Tanya Davies lobby for an abortion bill amendment banning sex selection.

Tanya Davies. Picture: Joel Carrett

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The amendment failed, with parliament instead agreeing to a review in 12 months if there was evidence female babies had been aborted.

Jasprit was unsure how the government would know if sex selection abortions were taking place “because it is all happening under the surface”.

“I am aware of many Indian Sikh mothers who have flown back to India … and checked the foetus by ultrasound,” she said. “If they find out if it’s the wrong sex — a female foetus — they will abort while they are in India on holidays before returning to Australia.”

Last week in parliament, Ms Davies referred to a 2018 La Trobe University study finding the ratio of boys and girls born to Chinese and Indian mothers in Victoria were higher than the state average.

A pro-choice rally was held outside NSW Parliament on Tuesday morning before the bill was set to be debated in the upper house. Picture: Brook Mitchell

Jasprit said, after an ultrasound showed her first child was female, “both my mother-in-law and husband told me to abort … I said no”.

Jasprit said her ex-husband and mother-in-law pressured her each time she was pregnant with her daughters to abort.

“After giving birth to my fourth daughter, my husband told me … he had made a decision to remarry, as he wanted a son,” she said.

“Most Indian Sikhs I believe go to great lengths to avoid having a baby girl,” Jasprit said.

“It’s a cultural thing … even those Indian Sikhs who are living in Australia.”