CHENNAI: The number of pregnant women registered at anganwadis in Tamil Nadu between 2014 and 2017 and the number of children born in the period show at least 700 may have been aborted, a recent study has revealed. Indicating that sex-selective abortions continue unabated, “Preliminary study on female foeticide in Tamil Nadu”, conducted by CRY and Samakalvi Iyakkam, across 10 districts, also found discrepancies in the data provided by authorities on child sex ratio (CSR) and childbirth.“If you look at data collated by government authorities and what we received in our RTI reply, there is a huge difference...,” said Samakalvi Iyakkam state coordinator Christu Raj.Data obtained under RTI on CSR for Dharmapuri for 2016-17 is 884, while calculation of CSR based on childbirth, also done through RTI, is 799. While National Famil Health Survey-4 (NFHS-4) data shows Ramanathapuram district with the lowest CSR of 732 in 2015-16, the RTI reply said Dharmapuri had the lowest at 860 girls per 1000 boys.The study, conducted in Ariyalur, Chennai, Dharmapuri, Dindigul, Ramanathapuram, Salem, Tirunelveli, Tiruvallur, Tiruvannamalai , and Tuticorin districts among workers from 100 anganwadis, 24 women who underwent sexselective abortions, antenatal and postnatal care mothers, panchayat presidents, doctors at primary health centres and district child protection officers, is also based on RTI data received from the district health departments between 2014-17.Between 2014 and 2017, 6,604 pregnant and lactating mothers registered themselves with anganwadis, but the number of mothers who later went to register birth of their wards was 5,900. “The difference is 704. This also includes stillborns. This number cannot be merely attributed to parents moving to another location. We need probe,” said Samakalvi Iyakkam secretary C Selvakumar.Many women approached astrologers to determine sex of the fetus, while some followed trational practices, believing that a woman getting out of bed on the left with bright face and with stomach pain would deliver a girl.R Vidyasagar, former child protection specialist with UNICEF, said, “The ideal child sex ratio must be 950 per 1000 boys, but here the number is much lower. It cannot be attributed to natural causes. There is an external intervention and that needs to be addressed before the situation worsens.”

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