COMMENTARY: Female Feticide Is an Immoral Practice

Female feticide -- or choosing to abort female fetuses because of a preference for sons -- is a common practice in China, India, Korea, Vietnam, and several other Asian nations.

It is also practiced in Canada, and to a lesser degree, in the United States.

In an effort to diminish this practice, an editorial in this month's issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) recommends that Canada should prohibit the disclosure of the sex of a fetus until after 30 weeks of pregnancy.

We agree with this CMAJ editorial. The fact is that a woman who carries a fetus 30 weeks or more is much more unlikely to have an abortion than a woman who carries a fetus for just two or three months.

Female feticide also is degrading to women, because it conveys an illogical message; namely, that a woman who gives birth to a son is luckier than a woman who gives birth to a daughter.

The fact is that a woman should be happy for being able to give birth to a child -- son or daughter -- and thank God for doing so.

Unfortunately, some women who are unable to give birth to a child "would give their right arm" to do so. Many women and men, who are not able to have a child, would be thrilled to be able to adopt a child -- male or female -- and have even gone as far away as Asia to do so.

Female feticide, then, must not be viewed as "a right" of a woman to abort as many fetuses as necessary in order to give birth to a son. In addition to being an immoral practice, female feticide -- as is the case with abortion in general -- must be considered an act of infanticide that seriously violates Christian doctrine.

In the final analysis, a woman must be extremely grateful to God for enabling her to give birth to a child -- male or female -- and to recognize that child as "a bundle of joy" that she will love and cherish for many years, and most likely for the rest of her life.