India: Maoist Woman Rebel Surrenders Fearing Forced Abortion

One of the more peculiar crisis pregnancy stories that I have read.

Not terribly pro-choice, these Maoists, are they?

In an exclusive chat with TOI, a fearless Kamla said that she married Lalsai one and a half years ago and rebels in their Local Operation Squad (LOS) wing of guerilla group had forced them to undergo either vasectomy or sterilization before and after marriage many times. "I escaped every time with excuses of health issues or a busy schedule whenever I was forced. But recently on January 18, when we checked with pregnancy kit-which I managed to get from the health wing-it was positive! It was both ecstatic and scary at the same time to know that they won't let the baby live," a thoughtful Lalsai said.

"On the other hand, consequences of surrendering haunted us. Eventually, with mutual decision we decided to quit Maoism and surrender before Rajnandgaon police. As we were working as sentris for the group during the day, it wasn't tough for us to abscond," he added.Kamla and Lalsai hailing from Kondemanpur and Lohkar were active at Pallemadi region on the Rajnandgaon-Kanker border and were handed 303 rifles by leaders. In their conversation, Kamla said that she wasn't forced to join LOS, but she eloped from her village after getting influenced by the dancing group of Maoists that visits villages to lure youngsters and join them. "I was 13 year old then," she said.