Girls suffer discrimination even before birth

The cases of selective abortion is increasing in ethnic communities in the west, says a group focused on promoting the value of human life.

"I think for a long time we've been denying that sex-selective abortion happens in the United States," Anna Higgins, J.D., associate scholar with the Charlotte Lozier Institute, told the Catholic News Agency. "It does happen here."

In a study titled "Sex-Selection Abortion: The Real War on Women," Higgins wrote: "Prenatal sex discrimination crosses cultural, ethnic, and national lines. It is practiced with impunity in many countries, including the U.S., via sex-selective abortion – choosing to abort a preborn child based solely on the child's sex. Prenatal discrimination can also be practiced pre-implantation by destroying embryos based on a pre-implantation sex determination."

The study cites China as a prime example of a country with widespread sex-selective abortion practices, where culture dictates preference for sons over daughters, added with polical and economic influences. Males in the country now outnumber females by 33 million.

The report also says in the last two decades, there is an unbalanced ratio of males and females in Asian-Pacific immigrant communities in the United States, the United Kingdom, and other western countries, indicating the increase in sex-selective abortions.

According to the United Nations Population Fund: "The biologically normal sex ratio at birth can range from 102 to 106 males per 100 females. When many more boys are born than girls, it is a sign that sex selection is taking place. Ratios as high as 130 boys per 100 girls have been observed."

The Charlotte Lozier Institute report cites a study conducted in Canada from 1990 to 2011 of Indian-born mothers with two daughters. The ratio of the "third birth" was 138:100 while the "fourth birth" is 166:100. In Ontario, the third birth of women from India with two daughters was 196 boys for every 100 girls.

While the ratio between males and females are still generally balanced in the U.S. (105 males to 100 females), the report says that medical breakthroughs like preimplantation genetic diagnosis and noninvasive prenatal testing could be used to discriminate against an unborn child of either sex.

In a poll conducted by the institute in 2012, 77 percent of participants were against aborting a fetus because of sex, and 80 percent of adults in Britain believe that a doctor who authorizes an abortion because of a baby's gender should be prosecuted.