Illegal abortions

The present rage on sterilization of young mothers at Kurunegala and Dambulla Hospitals appears driven more by nationalism and sentiments than factual presentation. I remember some time back there were news paper reports which stated that over 1000 illegal abortions were performed a day in Sri Lanka.these abortions were done with the consent of the mothers involved and there was no such hullabaloo as in the present case. While sterilization is prevention of conception, Illegal abortion amounts to murder. The clergy, doctors and politicians are silent on the alarming increase in abortions.the size of present day families including the parents are limited to about four or five.young mothers prefer sterilization after the first or the second child and this due to economic reasons.their thoughts may be influenced by advertisements paid for by the Family Planning Association which encourages small families. Coming back to the subject proper if we are to encourage large families among Sinhalese Buddhists we may have to take a second look at the work of the Family Planning Association and regulate the use of contraceptives by the majority community.the slogans of those who want to propagate the population should be ‘’Ban the family planning association’’ ‘’Ban contraceptives’’ etc.. What we are doing is tantamount to the Sinhala idiom,‘’anduwa thieddi atha puchha gannawa wage’’.

A.G.WEERASINGHE