Law to cut sex-selective abortions in Armenia ‘putting lives at risk’

Government introduces waiting time after warning that high level of terminations of female foetuses was causing a demographic crisis

Florence Low in Yerevan

Friday 21 October 2016

A new law designed to cut the high rate of sex-selective abortions in Armenia is inadequate, limiting women’s reproductive choices and putting lives at risk, according to women’s rights groups.

The ex-Soviet country, with a population of just under 3 million, has the third highest rate of abortion of female foetuses in the world, behind China and Azerbaijan.

In August, the government outlawed sex-selective terminations in response to pressure from the international community and the United Nations Population Fund (Unfpa), which warned of an impending demographic crisis because of the number of foetuses being aborted due to their gender.

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Source: The Guardian