Country’s first fetal life  saving project has been launched here at Chitrakoot nagar on Sunday by High court Justice R.S. Chouhan. Working for the motive of saving  unborn children, a shelter home for pregnant women ‘ Jeevni Aashray Dham’ will run here under the project where the women will not only be extended counseling and maternal care, but legal aid with rehabilitation opportunities.

“It was not an easy task to get license and we had  been trying for it since quite some time since unwed motherhood  is something held as unconventional by the society” said Devendra Agarwal of Maa Bhagawati Vikas Sansthan, an NGO working on a Life Saving Movement.

“In most of the cases, pregnancy is the result of crime like rape, incest or child abuse, while in some cases mentally retarded mothers or those from the lower economic strata are unable to raise the babies and hence the families either resort to abortion or else abandon the baby”, Agarwal said.

Abortion simply inflicts another level of violence on the innocent child conceived by the act and psychologically on the woman. Typically, a woman who is a victim of rape or incest is pressured into aborting, when instead she needs the support and encouragement of those around her.

“But at our ashram such women will not only be extended counseling along with family members but also will be given shelter if she has no where to go. The Department of Woman and Child Development has granted the license and initially we have facility to accommodate four women” said Vikas Shukla, a volunteer here.