Gender selection abortions addressed

(Update: The vote will now take place in the House of Representatives on Thursday, May 31, according to National Right to Life.)

Wednesday will be an important day for the pro-life community. According to a National Right to Life (NRLC) press release at Christian Newswire, the recently revised version of the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act will be addressed on the House floor in Washington, D.C. The bill would ban sex-selection abortions nationwide. The bill is sponsored by Congressman Trent Franks, a Republican from Arizona. According to the press release, the bill will be considered under “Suspension of the Rules,” which will required a two-thirds vote in the House for passage. The debate is expect around 2:30 PM EDT, and the vote around 7:00 PM EDT.

The National Right to Life Committee sent a letter to House members on Tuesday morning, urging members of the House to go on record against “the escalating war on baby girls.” You can read the NRLC letter here.

In the text of the letter, NRLC includes quotes political economist Nicholas Eberstadt of the American Enterprise Institute. Eberstadt notes, “In terms of its sheer toll in human numbers, sex-selective abortions has assumed a scale tantamount to a global war against baby girls.”

In addition to the letter from National Right to Life, Live Action has reported its own investigation of Planned Parenthood’s willingness to perform sex-selection abortions. You can see more of Live Action’s investigation here.

Despite opponents’ arguments that sex-selection abortions are not occurring in the United Sates, Dr. Sunita Puri and three other researchers at the University of California found that sex-selection abortions are in fact occurring due to the unborn child being a girl. You can read more about Dr. Puri’s research here and also find other resources on sex-selection abortions at NRLC’s website.

NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson noted in Tuesday’s press release that “[t]hose lawmakers who recently have embraced contrived political rhetoric asserting that they are resisting a ‘war on women’ must reflect on whether they now wish to be recorded as being defenders of the escalating war on baby girls.”