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A record number of baby girls are being aborted by Indian parents living in Britain because they prefer boys, a Mail on Sunday investigation can reveal.
Hundreds of pregnancies have been terminated on the basis of sex in the past four years – despite Government advice explicitly stating it is against the law.
Our probe shows that between 2021 and 2025, around 118 boys have been born to Indian mothers for every 100 girls, far higher than the national average of 105 boys born for every 100 girls.
Experts say the figures prove ‘sex-selective’ abortions are taking place on an unprecedented scale in the community, sparking fears Indian women are being coerced by their families to terminate their unborn daughters.
On Saturday night, Rani Bilkhu, founder of domestic abuse charity Jeena International, said: ‘The data shows how boys are being favoured more than girls.
‘This shows how community pressures – be it husbands or families, are leading women to abort girls.
‘Don’t forget, some women are also led to abort girls because they have been brought up to believe boys are better than girls, that boys carry the family name, and girls don’t. They feel they are worth more if they give birth to boys.’
She added: ‘I feel boys in the Indian community have the “prince syndrome.” They are better. This is actually not just an issue about abortion, it is about gender equality.’
A Right to Life spokesman said: ‘This latest data is deeply concerning. This is likely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to sex-selective abortions happening in the UK.
‘Because many minority communities in the UK have relatively small numbers of births, even proportionally high numbers of female baby girls having their lives ended by sex-selective abortion would not show up as a statistically significant distortion in the birth ratios for these communities.
‘So this data is very likely to underestimate the number of sex-selective abortions in the UK.’
According to data produced for the Mail on Sunday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), there was a huge imbalance in the ratio of the number of boys born compared to girls born by Indian mothers between the years 2021 to 2025.
The national average across all ethnicities sees around 105 boys born for every 100 girls each year, and the Government’s accepted upper limit of the boy to girl birth ratio stands at 107 males to 100 females.
Statisticians say that anything over the upper ratio of 107:100 suggests the use of sex-selective practices, including abortions or IVF procedures.
A record number of baby girls are being aborted by Indian parents living in Britain because they prefer boys, a Mail on Sunday investigation can reveal.
Hundreds of pregnancies have been terminated on the basis of sex in the past four years – despite Government advice explicitly stating it is against the law.
Our probe shows that between 2021 and 2025, around 118 boys have been born to Indian mothers for every 100 girls, far higher than the national average of 105 boys born for every 100 girls.
Experts say the figures prove ‘sex-selective’ abortions are taking place on an unprecedented scale in the community, sparking fears Indian women are being coerced by their families to terminate their unborn daughters.
On Saturday night, Rani Bilkhu, founder of domestic abuse charity Jeena International, said: ‘The data shows how boys are being favoured more than girls.
‘This shows how community pressures – be it husbands or families, are leading women to abort girls.
‘Don’t forget, some women are also led to abort girls because they have been brought up to believe boys are better than girls, that boys carry the family name, and girls don’t. They feel they are worth more if they give birth to boys.’
She added: ‘I feel boys in the Indian community have the “prince syndrome.” They are better. This is actually not just an issue about abortion, it is about gender equality.’
A Right to Life spokesman said: ‘This latest data is deeply concerning. This is likely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to sex-selective abortions happening in the UK.
‘Because many minority communities in the UK have relatively small numbers of births, even proportionally high numbers of female baby girls having their lives ended by sex-selective abortion would not show up as a statistically significant distortion in the birth ratios for these communities.
‘So this data is very likely to underestimate the number of sex-selective abortions in the UK.’
According to data produced for the Mail on Sunday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), there was a huge imbalance in the ratio of the number of boys born compared to girls born by Indian mothers between the years 2021 to 2025.
The national average across all ethnicities sees around 105 boys born for every 100 girls each year, and the Government’s accepted upper limit of the boy to girl birth ratio stands at 107 males to 100 females.
Statisticians say that anything over the upper ratio of 107:100 suggests the use of sex-selective practices, including abortions or IVF procedures.
