Woman in 7th month of pregnancy dies while performing abortion at home

In an alleged case of female foeticide, a 30-year old woman, in the seventh month of pregnancy, died during an abortion carried out by a nurse Tuesday at her home near here, once infamous for the practice of killing newborn baby girls, police said.

Ramuthayee, already having three girl children, decided to go for abortion after a private hospital, where she underwent a scan, revealed that the yet-to-be-born child was also a girl despite the ban on pre-natal sex determination, they said.

The family of the woman of Uthapuram wanted to go for abortion, but doctors at a hospital in Dhottappanayagar whom they approached refused to take up the procedure citing her advanced stage of pregnancy. Ramuthayee was then taken to a nurse who performed the abortion at the residence, leading to her death, police said.

The nurse was absconding, police said adding a case had been registered and further investigation was on. Usilampatti taluk in Madurai district was infamous in the 80s and 90s for female infanticide by administering poison, but the practice gradually came down with the state government taking various initiatives, including the launch of the "cradle baby" scheme under which parents can handover girl children they did not want to bring up.