Woman in India Commits Suicide After Husband Pressures Her to Get Abortion
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 4, 2010
Mumbai, India (LifeNews.com) — An Indian woman has killed herself following an abortion she obtained after pressure form her husband, who did not want children. Sarika Powar, reportedly committed suicide on Sunday by hanging herself in her Santa Cruz home after having the abortion she didn’t really want.
The DNA news agency indicates Powar’s husband and mother-in-law have both been arrested following a complaint from her father.
He told police that Powar’s husband Umesh Powar, 24, and mother-in-law Pratiksha, 40 had put tremendous pressure on the young woman since their marriage just months ago.
Jitendra Kamble, the assistant police inspector of the Vakola police station, related to DNA what happened.
“Around 6 p.m. on Sunday, when Powar returned home, he found the door locked from inside. He knocked several times, but when there was no response, he peeped in through a window to find Sarika hanging from the ceiling,” Kamble said.
“Umesh then requested his neighbor’s kid to go inside through the window to open the door. He rushed Sarika to a nearby hospital, where she was declared dead before admission,” Kamble added.
“Powar and his mother Pratiksha have been arrested and charged under section 498(A) of the IPC. After being produced in court on Monday, both have been remanded in police custody till January 9,” the police official explained.
Another, unnamed, police offer, told the news outlet about the coerced abortion.
“Sarika and Powar were married a few months ago. Sarika wanted children, but Umesh was not willing to be a father yet. Because of this, he made her undergo an abortion about three months ago,” the official said.
Studies have consistently shown that abortion makes it more likely that women will consider suicide, especially if the abortion take place under pressured or coerced circumstances.
A study published in the journal BMC Psychiatry found that women who have abortions typically experience high levels of post-traumatic stress disorder.
The study appeared in the July 2007 issue of the professional psychological publication and it involved 155 women from South Africa who had abortions and were evaluated one month and three months afterwards.
Approximately 20 percent of the women had post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms just one month later. The results led the authors to note that "high rates of PTSD characterize women who have undergone" abortions.
Looking at the women three months after the abortion, the number of women experiencing the PTSD symptoms increased 61 percent.
A March 2004 report from the National Institutes of Health revealed that suicide is now the third leading cause of death among America’s young people. In fact, for teen girls and young women, the suicide rate has tripled over the past 25 years.
While suicide among women in the typical abortion age range is rising, suicide rates for Americans in general are dropping across the country.
Dr. David Reardon, director of the Elliot Institute, previously said abortion is partly to blame for the increase.
"Given the fact that more than half of all women having abortions are under the age of 25, and more than 20 percent of women having abortions are teenagers, the increased suicide rate among teens and young women is sadly not a surprise," Reardon said.
An Elliot Institute study published in August 2003 edition of the Southern Medical Journal found that women who had abortions were seven times more likely to commit suicide than women who gave birth.
Reardon’s group examined Medi-Cal records for more than 173,000 low-income California women who had abortions or gave birth in 1989. Linking these records to death certificates, the researchers found that women who had state-funded abortions were 2.6 times more likely to die of suicide compared to women who delivered their babies.
The study also found that women who have abortions have a higher suicide rate than women in general. In fact, giving birth reduces women’s suicide risk, the study showed.
Other studies have found higher rates of depression, mental illness, miscarriages and substance abuse among post-abortive women compared to women who gave birth.
"It’s a recipe for tragedy," Reardon said. "Statistics like these should serve as a wake-up call that … abortion is harming women, not helping them."
Related web sites:
Elliot Institute – https://www.afterabortion.info
Sign Up for Free Pro-Life News From LifeNews.com
Daily Pro-Life News Report Twice-Weekly Pro-Life
News Report Receive a free daily email report from LifeNews.com with the latest pro-life news stories on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here. Receive a free twice-weekly email report with the latest pro-life news headlines on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here.
