In Central Asia, Pressure To Bear Sons Drives Sex-Selective Abortions

May 22, 2026
By Azattyq Asia
Video – 2:36 minutes

In Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and neighboring countries, newborn boys outnumber girls at a rate well beyond the worldwide average. That shift is the result of sex-selective abortion, in which families choose to terminate a pregnancy when a daughter is expected. Social scientists warn that this choice is not always made freely by pregnant women, who sometimes face coercion from their husbands and relatives.

Continued: https://www.rferl.org/amp/tajikistan-uzbekistan-sex-selective-abortion-demographics/33762791.html

23.05.2026

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Kyrgyzstan – Improvement of availability and quality of safe abortion services discussed in Bishkek

Improvement of availability and quality of safe abortion services discussed in Bishkek

Bishkek, Nov. 21, 2018. /Kabar/

A technical meeting on “Improvement of availability and quality of safe abortion services” is being held in Bishkek.

Experts told that despite the existence of safe, simple and effective interventions based on the principles of evidence-based medicine, almost 22 million unsafe abortions are performed annually, which continues to contribute considerably to the global burden of maternal morbidity and mortality.

In Kyrgyzstan, in 2015, the maternal mortality rate was the highest among the Central Asian countries, 6.3 times higher than in Kazakhstan, 2.4 times higher than in Tajikistan, 1.8 times higher than in Turkmenistan, and 2.1 times higher than in Uzbekistan.

Continued: http://kabar.kg/eng/news/improvement-of-availability-and-quality-of-safe-abortion-services-discussed-in-bishkek/