; the birth of a daughter could result in violence or a brutal death for the mother at the hands of the father and mother-in-law. For example, photojournalist Walter Astrada’s renowned documentary tells the story of an Indian woman who was tortured and abandoned by her husband and mother-in-law for refusing to abort twin girls. Sex-selection abortion has long been considered a form of violence against women, and the study proved that both the women and the unborn daughter are victims of violence where sex-selection abortion is legally available but not sought by the mother. Forty percent of the women had terminated prior pregnancies when they learned that the unborn child was female. Of the women who discovered they were pregnant with a girl during the interview period, 89 percent underwent a sex-selection abortion. Among those that did not abort their unborn daughters, 100 percent expressed ambivalence about prior sex-selection abortions. Further, 100 percent cited physical and psychological trauma from the past abortions as reasons for not seeking another. Most tragically, 100 percent expressed guilt, shame and sadness over their inability to save the daughters they had aborted. (iv) Coercive sex-selection abortions are suspected in other western countries as well. Following a 2012 investigation of sex-selection abortion in the United Kingdom, Dr. Tony Falconer, President of the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, raised the specter that women may be experiencing violence and coercion to force sex-selection abortions. (v) A growing body of research documents the relationship between intimate partner violence and reproductive coercion. (M) Sex-selection abortion harms women. Researchers at the University of California found that women in the United States who undergo sex-selection abortions are at increased risk for psychological and physical morbidity, documented by their descriptions of depression, anxiety, chronic pain, physical abuse, closely spaced pregnancies, and forced abortions . Further, 100