Parents want boys, abandon newborn girls

Published: May 29, 2008 at 12:46 PM

WOLVERHAMPTON, England, May 29 (UPI) -- A British couple allegedly abandoned newborn twin girls at a hospital because they wanted boys, a government worker said.

The new parents told doctors they didn't want the "wrong sex" babies after they were delivered by Caesarean section in Wolverhampton, England, The Sun reported Thursday. The husband asked how soon his wife could travel to undergo fertility treatment in hopes of conceiving a boy to carry on the family name.

The 59-year-old mother and 72-year-old father used fertility treatments in India and returned to England for the birth, the British newspaper reported.

"Everyone is utterly appalled. How could any parent do this?" a National Health Services worker told The Sun. "This is Britain in the 21st century. But they just weren't prepared to raise these two beautiful girls."

The parents were born in India but are British citizens living in Birmingham. Babies have been abandoned in India simply for being girls but the newspaper said this is the first known instance of such an abandonment in Britain.

A spokeswoman for New Cross Hospital, where the girls were delivered, told The Sun the hospital could confirm the twins were born at the facility and were "healthy and well."

© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Order reprints



Additional News Stories
Fatal UConn fight started with comments
Rollins leads NL Gold Glove winners
UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News
Hewlett Packard to acquire 3Com
UPI NewsTrack Business
NFL suspends Joselio Hanson 4 games
Crude oil holds near $79 per barrel
fark
Kansas City teacher fired after making jokes about Florida. Students erect signs to save his job...
Banana robber to face trial. He's expected to file a peel
Photoshop this building site break
Imposter busted for posing as decorated Marine. Bonus: Charade was discovered at H.S. reunion when...
The coolest photo of Devils Tower you've seen since your routine training flight went missing in...
Find yourself recently single and with no clue how to proceed? You are in luck. Come on out to the...