Sex-selection abortions causing male/female imbalance

By Deborah Gyapong

Canadian Catholic News

OTTAWA (CCN) — A Jan. 16 editorial in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) warning of a distortion of the male/female balance due to sex-selection abortion in some ethnic communities has brought abortion into the media spotlight.

In the editorial, CMAJ interim editor-in-chief Dr. Rajendra Kale urged the sex of a fetus be kept from pregnant women until 30 weeks gestation, when it is almost impossible to obtain an abortion except for exceptional medial reasons.

“Female feticide happens in India and China by the millions, but it also happens in North America in numbers large enough to distort the male-to-female ratio in some ethnic groups,” said Kale.

But pro-life and pro-family organizations quickly pointed out the illogic of trying to prevent abortions based on sex when the law does not prevent women from aborting an unborn child for the sake of convenience.

“Once a society has accepted abortion as a so-called ‘right,’ tragically choosing to ignore scientific facts regarding the beginning of human life, it should be no surprise when some women, often pressured by men, request abortions for eugenic reasons, like sex selection,” said Catholic Organization for Life and Family director Michele Boulva.

“Why would it be all right to abort when an unforeseen pregnancy is an impediment to a career or because the unborn child has some genetic disease, and not for sex selection?”

Boulva said the female feticide problem is another demonstration of the need for a debate on when human life begins, called for by Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth.

“That’s what it is all about: the humanity of the fetus,” said Boulva. “It is either human or it is not.”

“If it is, the Charter of Rights should protect all unborn, male and female,” she said. “There should be no place for discrimination.”

“You either respect the dignity of the human person from conception to natural death, or you end up defending indefensible choices,” she said.

REAL Women of Canada came out in support of the CMAJ recommendation to regulate ultrasound use to determine the sex of unborn children. REAL Women said it has been “alarmed for some time about abortions based on gender” in Canada, noting that Statistics Canada identified the problem in 2006.

“The loss of females by way of sex selection abortions devalues all women and their contributions to society in the past, present and the future,” said a REAL Women Jan. 17 news release. “The availability of such abortions can result in family pressure on women to have an abortion — which is unacceptable bullying that can traumatize such women.”

LifeCanada, a national umbrella for educational pro-life groups, commissioned a poll in September 2011 that revealed 92 per cent of Canadians think sex-selection abortion should be illegal.

LifeCanada noted the CMAJ editorial’s role in garnering media coverage, pointing out that the author called female feticide “discrimination against women at its worst.”

“We support Dr. Kale’s recommendations and congratulate him on his courage for raising the issue,” said LifeCanada executive director Natalie Hudson Sonnen. “Canadians have become increasingly concerned at the growing problem of female feticide, and support measures that could potentially, in the words of Dr. Kale, ‘save thousands of Canada’s girls.’ ”