Indian police arrest nurse after woman’s death in abortion

NEW DELHI – Indian police have arrested a nurse for trying to perform an abortion on a 28-year-old woman who died at her home in southern India, an official said Wednesday.

The woman, a mother of three daughters, approached a private hospital on Monday in Usilampatti, a town in southern Tamil Nadu state, but doctors refused to carry out the procedure as she was seven months’ pregnant, district administrator S. Natrajan said.

However, a hospital nurse offered to perform an abortion at the woman’s home, where she died soon after, said police officer Madasamy, who uses one name.

Police are investigating whether the victim opted to have an abortion upon learning through an illegal sex determination test that she was carrying a female fetus, The Hindu newspaper said.

Female infanticide is a lucrative business that thrives underground in India. Most Indian parents, especially the poor, prefer a son as a daughter’s birth means immense debts they’ll need to pay for marriage dowries.