lost: baby girls

Originally published at Klarabelle Candy on January 6, 2012

100 million women are missing worldwide1.

It sounds like a horror story or a scary movie.  But it's true.  Where are they?  Where have they gone?

In China, women want to have boys.  One reason is because traditionally, the boys grow up to take care of their parents, whereas the girls marry and live with their husbands (therefore not being able to take care of their own parents).  Since there is a one-child policy in China, many mothers understandably prefer boys and hope to have boys instead of girls.  Therefore there are many women who chose to have abortions if they find out they are going to have a girl.  This is called sex selection or gendercide.  Therefore, the balance of boy-girl in China is thrown off because there are more boys being born than girls.  There are 160 million women missing from Asia.

Okay, so that's just China and India, you might think.  (WARNING: GROSS In India, doctors have fed aborted girls to dogs to hide the fact sex-selected abortions.  You can read the full article here {UPDATE: My mom pointed out that India may have a law against sex-selected abortions, i.e. why people are trying to hide them.  I haven't had a chance to research this yet, so just bear that in mind.}).  Okay, it's safe to read now.  :) China and India and other countries like that prefer girls over boys, and that's...well that's just...them. 

Unfortunately, that's not quite true.  

Today, there is sex-selection abortion in the United States.

Live Action, a pro-life group has gone undercover to see if Planned Parenthood will condemn or condone gendercide.  You can see the video and read an article about it here.  There is a second video which you can view here.

Recently in America, democrats in the House of Representatives defeated the bill which would've banned sex-selection abortions.  (You can read Life News' article about it here.)  To me it seems shocking that a country trying to eliminate sexism would allow mothers to kill their babies simply because of their gender.  Most of the babies being killed are girls.  Doesn't Planned Parenthood claim to be all about "women's rights"?  Yet what about those baby girls being ripped out of the womb?  Don't they have any rights?  

{Update: My dad told me there are some more details in this and you can read about it here.  Rep. Trent Franks, the Arizona Republican, is quoted in the article saying, "I am confident this is not the end, but merely an opening salvo in ensuring the words, 'It's a girl' are no longer a death sentence..."}

Going back to the abortion issue, I guess it all goes back to morality.  What is right and what is wrong?  "Right" and "wrong" are not relative.  God has already set the standards.  Humans with sin natures are often uninterested in God's standards.  But because humans have chosen to go their own way, 100 million girls are missing.  Everyday in America alone, about 3,700 babies will be aborted3.  Randomly, it seems ironic that India would go to gruesome means to hide their sex-selection abortions, while America does not go to any means to hide theirs.   

I would like to encourage you to check out Protect Our Girls, a project of Live Action, and sign the petition there.  

Also, I found this gadget on Talia's blog that shows how many babies have been aborted just in the short period of time you have had this website open on your computer.  It is very sobering and if you have a blog and are willing to put the gadget on your blog, that would be wonderful.

I know abortion is not a "light" issue, but I believe that we have a duty to protect the defenseless (Psalm 82:3-4 - "afflicted and needy"?  I think so).  For those who have not yet gained a voice, we need to be their voice and to stand out against the murder.

{Update} Just found this pic on Live Action's FaceBook page.  My point exactly, except in photograph form...

1 Gendercide: The systematic killing of girls June 2012 Protect Our Girls

2 Mara Hvistendahl. June 2012 Where Have All the Girls Gone?

3 Christian Patriots for Life June 2012 How many babies...?