Unwanted Daughters?

For half a century the global abortion debate has been inextricably linked to the feminist ideals of freedom and choice.

But the availability of modern sex-determination technology has given rise to a horrifying trend of sex-selective abortion, particularly in Asian countries.

The so called “son-preference” remains a huge problem in India, China, and Vietnam.

The Times of Singapore reported last autumn: “Vietnamese women who find they are carrying an unwanted female baby often head immediately to an abortion clinic. A walk-in abortion at a state hospital can be performed for $10, and at private clinics for about $20.”

A report by UNICEF in India reveals that “7,000 fewer girls are now born in India each day than nature would dictate, and 10 million have been killed during pregnancy or just after in the past 20 years.”

Many women in these countries are under severe pressure to birth a boy, and the availability of cheap abortions has allowed them to avoid humiliation and social exclusion at the cost of their daughter’s life.

The situation is extremely difficult and governments are attempting to make sex-determination technology more scarce in these communities, but for now a woman’s right to an abortion can effectively abolish another woman’s right to life simply for being a woman.

Obama’s Agenda Overwhelmingly “Pro-Abortion”

Obama Reinstates Aid to Abortion Clinics Overseas

During his first month in office, American President Barack Obama has already moved to overturn three Bush Era abortion regulations.

On his fourth day in office, Mr. Obama repealed the Mexico City Policy, which required groups that receive federal funds not to promote or perform abortions overseas. Now that this policy has been overturned, every American taxpayer is responsible for abortions exported to women in poor countries.

The President also said he “looks forward” to giving taxpayer dollars to the United Nations Population Funding Association (UNFPA), which promotes abortion overseas.

President Bush cut off funding to the UNFPA when it was revealed that it had supported coercive population control tactics in China, including forced abortion and sterilization.

Obama also opposes continuing federal funding for pro-life pregnancy resource centers, which provide women alternative solutions to crisis pregnancies.

The majority of Americans are opposed to taxpayer funded abortion services, according to a Gallup poll.

The US does not currently operate on a national healthcare system, and therefore the allocation of tax dollars to assist abortions would undeniably promote abortion rather than just permit it.

Obama also hopes to overturn the Bush executive order known as the Provider Conscience Clause, a mandate that allows medical providers to refuse abortion on the basis of personal objection.

Many fear that the repeal of this order will force providers to abandon their practices in states requiring them to perform abortions. This may leave communities with poor healthcare and decreased medical options.

Teen Abortions at Record High in the UK

   

Abortion

Originally uploaded by Amelee S.

Official figures show that more than 50 percent of pregnant teens chose to have a termination in 2007.
    These 21,000 under-18 abortions mark the first rise in rates over the past five years. The number was as low as 40 percent only ten years ago.
    Abortion providers described the landmark as a “positive sign” but pro-life campaigners said it was “frightening”.
    Ann Furedi, chief executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), the UK’s largest abortion provider, said: “The fact that half of the teenagers in this position felt able to end their pregnancy in abortion is actually a positive sign.”
    Despite the prevalence of birth control and wide availability of emergency contraception, abortion is losing its social stigma among the youth generation.
    BPAS continues to promote abortion as a solution to the increase in teen pregnancy, and Furedi has described the rising numbers as “entirely a good thing.”
    The Government has pledged to allocate more resources to organizations like BPAS, a resolution that horrifyingly promotes abortion as an acceptable form of birth control to young teens.

Media Bias

While abortion is outwardly a surgical and scientific issue, the ethical debate entangles politicians, priests and, more subtly, journalists. 

The Royal College of Psychiatrists published a study on the effect of abortion on a woman’s mental health last August, issuing findings that have been variously twisted and spun by the national dailies.

In trying to appeal to its heavily female readership, the Daily Mail reported that “Updated guidance from the Royal College of Psychiatrists points out that there is still no evidence that abortion causes mental health problems… The college rejects claims by the pro-life lobby that abortion causes mental health problems.”

The Times, in contrast, wrote that “women may be at risk of mental health breakdowns if they have abortions” and that “women should not be allowed to have an abortion until they are counselled on the possible risk to their mental health.” 

The Guardian took the opposite approach in an attempt to please its left-leaning audience, claiming that “In what comes as a surprise to approximately no one with basic critical thinking skills, the study has found that there is no credible evidence that a single elective abortion of an unwanted pregnancy in and of itself causes mental health problems for adult women.”

It is surprising how newswriters can produce such differing accounts of an apparently scientific subject. Obviously abortion continues to raise questions of morality that cannot be easily answered by science or the media. 

Abortion in GPs

Pregnant women in Islington may be among the first to gain access to early abortions in doctors’ surgeries under controversial new plans by the Health Secretary.

RU486 Abortion Pill

NHS Islington hopes to pioneer the project of bringing the “abortion pill” to GPs across the UK.

Under the 1967 Abortion Act, terminations can only be performed in a hospital or approved private clinic, but a loophole in the law allows the Secretary of State for Health to approve abortions in primary care.

A survey of 480 doctors in GP Magazine found that 61 percent think abortion should not be offered in anycommunity practice. A third of GPs went so far as to say they would refuse to work in a surgery offering early medical abortions.

The plan proposed to provide terminations at local surgeries is designed to reduce the amount of time and money that go into a woman’s decision to have an abortion.

Pro-life advocates are up in arms over the proposal, fueled by the widespread hesitation of medical professionals to make a difficult decision so quick and easy.