In a Thursday blog post, Planned Parenthood Action Fund criticized H.R. 4924, known as the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act, or PRENDA. PRENDA would make it illegal to abort based on the baby’s race or sex.
Although PRENDA would outlaw the targeting of female babies and minority babies for abortion, Planned Parenthood has somehow managed to flip the script and call racism on the bill itself. According to their website…
… (PRENDA HR 4924) is just another attempt to ban safe, legal abortion. How? By targeting and discriminating against women of color and immigrant women. But that’s not all. The bill also furthers dangerous cultural stereotypes around these communities by purporting to ban abortion based on race or sex.
The cultural stereotypes some pro-abortion advocates have referred to are predominantly those related to Asian Americans, specifically Chinese and Indian Americans. Both China and India have a history of sex-selective abortion, and opponents of PRENDA argue that the bill is specifically targeted at Asian Americans, with some also arguing it is targeted at African Americans and other minorities. However, as could be expected, Planned Parenthood provides absolutely no evidence of this in the blog post, relying on inflammatory phrasing, lots of bold lettering, and typical pink trim instead of actual facts.
In a discussion on a bill related to sex-selective abortion, it should not come as a surprise that sex-selective abortion will be mentioned, including its history in specific regions of the world. The dominant color of skin in said region of the world is completely irrelevant.
In fact, opponents of PRENDA have even argued that Asian Americans – despite the alleged stereotypes – have a lower boy to girl ratio than the American population as a whole, citing a 2014 University of Chicago study. That’s wonderful; it invalidates stereotypes allegedly held by some Americans, and yet it’s completely irrelevant to PRENDA.
Sex and race based abortions still occur in the United States among a variety of cultures, including among white Americans. PRENDA does not single out one race or culture; therefore, pretending it does is a feeble attempt at discrediting the bill.
PRENDA would protect babies from discrimination leading to abortion, and any advocate for equal rights should support that.
