Due to selective abortions, around 80,000 girls have not been born.
In recent decades, sex-selective pregnancy terminations have become one of the most pressing issues in Armenia. These, in turn, lead to other problems, affecting demographic growth and contributing to population aging.
This topic was addressed by Nikol Pashinyan during the October 17 government session.
Some people prefer to have male children. This means that the primary victims of selective abortions are girls. Due to selective abortions, in the coming years, we will face a problem related to the number of girls, which either has already had or will have a significant negative impact on our reproductive potential, said Pashinyan.
His remarks were supplemented by Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Narek Mkrtchyan, who noted that in the last decade, around 80,000 girls have not been born due to abortions. According to Mkrtchyan, this impacts the degradation of the population’s demographics.
The law on pregnancy termination seeks to prevent selective abortions. According to the law, artificial terminations are allowed only with the woman’s written consent until the 12th week of pregnancy. Between 12-22 weeks, terminations are only performed based on medical indications or the presence of social issues, with the woman’s consent. In other cases, including sex-selective abortions, terminations between 12-22 weeks are prohibited.