India's widespread practice of aborting female fetuses is a "national shame," the prime minister said Monday, insisting the country can no longer ignore the problem if it wants to be a modern nation.

Experts say up to 500,000 female fetuses are aborted in India every year because of discrimination against women and a deep-rooted cultural preference for male children, who will help support their parents in old age and attract wives who come with substantial dowries.

"This is a national shame and we must face this challenge squarely here and now," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told a conference on ways to "Save the girl child."

"No nation, no society, no community can hold its head high and claim to be part of the civilized world if it condones the practice of discriminating against one half of humanity represented by women," Singh said.

The British medical journal The Lancet recently reported that up to 500,000 female fetuses are aborted every year.