Report: Chinese woman dies after having four abortions in a year in an effort to have a boy

A Chinese woman is dead after she had four abortions in a year in an effort to give birth to a boy, according to the South China Morning Post.

The unnamed woman from China’s Anhui province was reportedly pressured into terminating her pregnancies by her husband. The couple already has a 4-year-old daughter, and the husband insisted that their second child be a boy.

In 2015, China amended its one-child policy to permit couples to have two children. Traditional Chinese culture still favors boys over girls, which can lead to sex-selective abortion and female infanticide.

The South China Morning Post notes that it is illegal in China for doctors to tell expecting mothers the sex of their unborn child in case they seek to abort a girl. However, unlicensed medical practitioners sometimes illegally tell women their unborn child’s sex.

According to the report, the woman’s health deteriorated after she underwent the four abortions and her husband divorced her due to her health. She sought treatment in a hospital with money from her divorce settlement, but she later died.

The report adds that the woman’s former husband did not visit her while she was in the hospital and he is now planning to marry again.