Selective abortion in Albania..

It's been a problem for generations and now is just skewing the population even more. Selective abortion can be explained by the parents finding out the gender of the baby and then deciding to abort the child solely based on its gender. I have heard horror stories, women going through procedures over 10 times because the ultrasound turns out to be a girl and the family doesn't want a girl. It has been suggested by private European companies that Albania, along with some other Balkan countries take away the option completely to tell the parents the gender of the child. It is something that stems from traditional beliefs and believing that the male of the family is more important and powerful than the females.


According to a recent report from the Council of Europe, in Albania 112 males are born for every 100 females – a rather disproportionate figure compared with the ratio of natural demographic growth. Albania has a similar situation to some other Caucasian countries, while Kosovo is among the most problematic countries in the Balkans.


“Selective abortion is not a new problem in Albanian society,” states a sociologist, active in women's rights. “In the traditional patriarchal system, daughters are thought to be born to be given to a husband, and therefore are in some way external to the family. And traditionally they don't carry the family surname. If a family only has daughters, they say that family will become extinct,” she explains. Read more here..