{"id":236644,"date":"2020-12-22T11:49:30","date_gmt":"2020-12-22T17:49:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=236644"},"modified":"2020-12-21T16:02:20","modified_gmt":"2020-12-21T22:02:20","slug":"abusive-husband-chose-life-triplet-daughters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/abusive-husband-chose-life-triplet-daughters\/","title":{"rendered":"Though her abusive husband tried to kill her, she chose life for her triplet daughters"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In 1996, a 26-year-old Indian woman chose life for her triplet daughters \u2014\u00a0despite pressure to abort, threats to her life from her abusive husband, and judgment from her community.<\/span><\/p>\n

When the triplets were three months in utero, Jasbeer Kaur\u2019s doctor recommended that she abort them. The \u201cdreaded advice,\u201d as Kaur described it in an interview with\u00a0The Better India<\/a>, was that \u201cabortion is not expensive. I am sure you can afford it, against the massive cost you will incur by raising three daughters. If you go ahead with this decision, you can maybe even save your marriage.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Kaur had married in 1995 and quickly realized her husband was both a physically and mentally abusive alcoholic. After his wife refused to abort their triplets in 1996, he attempted to murder her and his daughters by forcing her fingers into a live electric socket. After that, Kaur left him and\u00a0<\/span>chose life for her daughters. She said, \u201cI felt liberated by facing the most dreaded advice. When I thought about raising girls all by myself, I was not scared. I was happy about shaping three beautiful individuals. I became a single parent during that 15-minute ride from the hospital to my parents’ house in 1996.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the time of Jasbeer Kaur\u2019s life-giving decision, both divorce and daughters were discouraged where she lived in India. Thankfully, Kaur\u2019s parents and brother offered her a supportive network to assist her through it all. \u201cMy mother said if she could raise daughters, then even I could do it,\u201d Kaur recalled. \u201cEven though I was aware that eventually, the burden would fall on me, I was happy to know my family had my back. They gave me the strength to fight and build a new life for my unborn babies.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In a video for UNFPA, Kaur expresses her belief that, “[h]aving a child is a personal decision… and a woman’s decision. A family runs with equal understanding between the wife and husband. It does not mean that we have to agree to the husband’s decision to abort.”<\/p>\n