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.
The twelve apostles chosen by Jesus formed the bedrock of the early Church , and their Catholic identity is deeply rooted in their direct relationship with Christ and the mission He entrusted to them. The Catechism of the Catholic Church highlights this foundational role, stating that Jesus "instituted the Twelve as 'the seeds of the new Israel and the beginning of the sacred hierarchy'" ( CCC 860 ). These men were not simply followers; they were handpicked by Jesus, lived intimately with Him, witnessed His miracles and teachings firsthand, and were specifically commissioned to preach the Gospel to all nations ( Matthew 28:19-20 ). Their unique position as eyewitnesses to the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, and their reception of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, established them as the authoritative leaders of the nascent Church, a reality echoed in the writings of early Church Fathers like Ignatius of Antioch, who emphasized the apostles' authority as repre...