Nigerian feminist author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie said during a speech about gender-based violence and discrimination that most terminated preganacies involve female infants.
Adichie pointed out during her speech that the discrimination against female children starts even before they are born.
She said:
“We know from research, and I think most of us also know this, that a baby boy and a baby girl are treated differently right from the minute they are born. In fact, even before they are born. It is overwhelmingly female pregnancies that are terminated, specifically because they are female.”
It is overwhelmingly female pregnancies that are terminated, specifically because they are female.
Chimamanda Adichie
Chimamanda Adichie made the speech during a virtual ceremony where she was presented with the “Africa Freedom Prize 2020” award by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF) on Monday, December 14, 2020.
The accuracy of Adichie’s assertions about abortions has been disputed by several people.
Recent research by the Guttmacher Institute pointed out the reasons below as why most women choose to terminate a pregnancy but never included a choice of gender as one of the reasons:
- The dramatic impact a baby would have on the women’s lives
- Financial concerns
- Their current relationship or fear of single motherhood
- Health concerns
