PM Modi looks into botched up abortion

New Delhi: The recent incident of a 26-year-old woman dying during a botched up termination of pregnancy has caught the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The PM has sought a report from the Centre on the matter, with a mandate to the Union health ministry to strengthen the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act and Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act. 

The police in March had arrested a homeopath, Dr Babasaheb Khidrapure, who ran an illicit abortion racket in the Mhaisal village, Maharashtra, after the discovery of as many as 19 aborted female foetuses dumped in a sewer. 

The death of 26-year-old Swati Jamdade on March 3 during a botched termination of her pregnancy, blew the lid off Dr. Khidrapure’s racket.

The four member central team that recently visited the district are finalising the report and are likely to send it to the PMO by next week. The team was mandated to ascertain the “cause of death’ of Jamdade and the alleged “inter state racket” that runs in Maharshtra and Karnataka. 

“The sex ratio of both Maharashtra and Karnataka is low and the common observation is that there was a cross border trade sex racket trade happening,” sources said.

The team is also expected to give recommendations to strengthen the existing two Acts. “The report will be an extensive one. The state inquiry report has also been studied. The fact finding team from the centre will explain elaborately about the racket, cause of death of woman with recommendations for strengthening the present Acts,” added sources.

According to the state police and Sangli district authorities, Dr. Khidrapure was alleged to be running an inter-state racket since 2008, involving doctors and patients from Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, who came to his clinic, Bharati Hospital, to get the abortions done.

Dr. Khidrapure had two rooms, equipped with instruments to perform abortions. The police had then said that since he did not have sonography machines, some doctors used to send patients to him for performing illegal abortions once the sonography tests had been conducted. The FDA is also probing whether abortion drugs were used by the doctor during the operations.

Maharashtra abortion racket

• The death of 26-year-old Swati Jamdade on March 3 during a botched termination of her pregnancy, blew the lid off an illicit abortion racket
• The cops held a homeopath who ran an abortion racket in Mhaisal village
• The arrest came after aborted female foetuses were found dumped in a sewer