The problem of sex-selective abortion is not limited to China and
India, but is increasing in communities within Western countries, a new
report by the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute says. “I think for a long time we’ve been denying that sex-selective
abortion happens in the United States,” said Anna Higgins, J.D.,
associate scholar with the Charlotte Lozier Institute. However, she told CNA, “it does happen here.” Countries like China, with its miserable human rights record, are
notorious for sex-selective abortions because of the country’s long-time
forced one-child family policy, now a two-child policy. Human rights
activists have termed the situation “gendercide” because so many
families choose only to have a boy to carry on the family name. The practice has led to demographic disaster, with 33 million more
men than women in the country, according to human rights activists. Yet sex-selective abortion happens not just in China and India, but
within Western countries as well, Higgins argues. In certain immigrant
communities in the U.S. – including some Indian-American,
Korean-American, and Chinese-American communities – the ratio of baby
boys to baby girls can actually be much higher than China’s. “Although not every country prohibits sex-selective abortion
specifically, there is obviously a global awareness that prenatal
sex-selection is unethical based on the sheer number of countries that
prohibit preimplantation sex-selection techniques,” Higgins said of the
numbers. “The United States is, in fact, lagging behind the rest of the world on this front.” Higgins, along with the pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List, is
pushing for the House to pass the Prenatal Non-Discrimination Act which
would prohibit sex-selective abortions, along with the solicitation of
funds for these abortions or any “coercion” of woman to obtain an
abortion on basis of sex, which happens in some communities, Higgins
said.
Born during the turbulent era of the French Revolution, Saint Jeanne Jugan rose above hardship and a lack of formal schooling to become a profound vessel of Christ’s mercy. After losing her father at a young age and working through her youth as a kitchen maid and nurse, her life radically changed one freezing night when she encountered a blind, paralyzed elderly woman with nowhere to go. Jeanne carried the woman back to her own home, placed her in her own bed, and began a lifelong mission of radical hospitality. This act of profound love blossomed into the Little Sisters of the Poor , a thriving community dedicated to sheltering and honoring the destitute elderly. Despite later facing heavy trials—including being unjustly sidelined and stripped of her leadership by a controlling chaplain—Jeanne accepted her obscurity and exile with a joyful spirit, resting her complete trust in God's hidden providence until her death in 1879. In our daily lives, Saint Jeanne Jugan invites us to lo...