I live in the United States and read with amazement and disgust that a country with some of the best soldiers in the world cannot protect our own women and children from being trafficked for prostitution to India at the rate of 100,000 a year. With the joint effort of Nepal and India, this criminal activity can be curbed. I am outraged by the lack of outrage in Nepal over this issue.

Tanarasoo Kupusamy
United States

Thank you for Silent state violence (#55) by Dr Aruna Uprety on unsafe abortions in Nepal. Poor Nepali women do not currently have access to safe abortions, and many women suffer as a result of the illegal abortions performed on them. But the article does not mention any of the other options Nepalis have: contraception and adoption. Why did the man not have a vasectomy? Or could they not have given their child to one of the many infertile couples in Nepal? It is doubtful whether legalising abortion will change the availability of safe abortions for poor women in Nepal. The inability of most rural hospitals and clinics, both private and government, to perform currently legal minor surgery, suggests that they will not be able to perform abortions either, if and when they become legal. Legalisation will likely only help to assuage the guilty conscience of the rich women having abortions at urban private clinics, and make it easier for enterprising doctors to make larger amounts of money providing abortion services. Besides, the safety of even safe abortions is not certain. As Dr Uprety is committed to helping the helpless, there is another helpless person we are discussing here: the baby. Let us preserve the lives of both women and children in Nepal by encouraging the use of contraception and adoption, which are legal, free, and safe for both women and children. Legalising abortion will not solve anything.

Dr Les Dornon
Tansen, Palpa