On Thursday, May 31, a vote in the House of Representatives failed to gain 2/3 vote to ban gender selective abortions in the United States. The final vote was 246-168. Though a majority voted in favor of the bill, supporters of the bill fell 30 votes short.
A bill, introduced by Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), could have subjected an abortion provider to jail time for neglecting to determine whether gender was a motivating factor in a woman’s decision to terminate a pregnancy,” according to the Washington Post.
When one thinks of gender selective abortions one’s thoughts focus on China or India, where male babies are preferred over females. However, this practice has been going on in the United States. A recent undercover video taping of an interview with Planned Parenthood uncovered that agency’s practice of aborting female babies if the parents want a male.
“...a national spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood told the Huffington Post that it is official Planned Parenthood policy to provide elective abortions even if they’re being performed because the baby is a girl.”
“Congress opened debate Wednesday afternoon (May 30) on legislation that would outlaw sex-selective abortions. The bill, introduced by Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), could subject an abortion provider to jail time for neglecting to determine whether gender was a motivating factor in a woman’s decision to terminate a pregnancy,” according to the Washington Post.
“White House deputy press secretary Jamie Smith told (ABC’s Jake Tapper) in a statement: ‘The Administration opposes gender discrimination in all forms, but the end result of this legislation would be to subject doctors to criminal prosecution if they fail to determine the motivations behind a very personal and private decision. The government should not intrude in medical decisions or private family matters in this way.’”
I agree with the president’s stand on not discriminating. However, killing a female in the womb is the ultimate form of discrimination.
While this practice may be accepted by the masses in China, it is not morally acceptable in the United States, even though the House killed this measure that would have curbed the practice. Choosing to kill an unborn child simply because its sex is not desired by the parents is insanity. One would have to label the barbaric practice as being over the top.
As the dad of three wonderful young women, I could not imagine the mind-set of a person that would kill a child just because the child is female.
I wonder why women’s rights organizations have not spoken out on this issue. The silence, coming from such groups as National Organization of Women, is deafening. Is this a signal from our government that the right to abort a child is more important than systematically killing off a generation of female leaders and, of course, mothers?
I have opposed the slaughter of the unborn since the United States Supreme Court voted to legalize this taking of life. However, this selection process is maniacal and smacks of Germany’s selective breeding in the 1940s. The vote by the House has given the government’s stamp of approval to the killing of our nation’s young women.
—Keith Hansen
Comments (29)
Add commentThe saddest thing is
that a few wacko women will scream at you about this Keith. They are the same ones that make the "nails on the chalk board" posts on here all the time.
Murder is murder no matter what sex the murdered child is.
eyolf
I heard that there were 36 Asians who had abortions due to the gender issue. Good thing they have 246 US Representatives ready to take away their legal rights.
Listened to speakeasy last week and some callers were very pro Ron Paul. It just about did the hosts in trying to convert them to Romney! And if that is the feeling of some in Brainerd, it must be a sign of the times around the US. (psst. your music still dates you, fellas)
I think Boehner's had a rough two years. Poor guy.
On Wisconsin!!
Getting a little
late to be commenting, even if you are in the vanguard. Glad to see that you haven't shed your hypocricy.
Thanks Speaker of the House John B. (R) Ohio
Your focus on important issues never seems to change ,started with HR 3 right out of the box. Maybe some day you will be able to " start over with a clean sheet of paper" at Newts moon colony. Keep working hard and continue to focus on jobs,jobs,jobs, and of course abortion,,,
Because preventing the killing of babies simply because they are
...girls isn't important, right Captron? The reason this became an issue is because of a videotape of a Planned Parenthood employee who didn't even bat an eye when a woman who was clearly in the last trimester of pregnancy came in and told her she would have the baby if it was a boy, but not if it were a girl.
You want to learn about the economics of abortion? Read "Unplanned" by Abby Johnson. Abby Johnson was a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic director who left because a) she witnessed an ultra-sound guided early abortion and was horrified by what she saw happen to the innocent fetus, and b) because the mucky-mucks in control of Planned Parenthoods kept hounding the directors to meet their abortion quotas because that was where they made a profit.
yes, and I bet you just
lapped that up, meuhl.
Prevention is the best way to decrease abortions.
And no one does that better than Planned Parenthood.
The conservative right's dogged determination to control women's health is going to be their demise, so go for it, righties!
Lake...
...I am a woman, so don't lecture me about women's rights. Men are the ones who benefit most from abortion.
The world population is over 7 billion,
we have wars, famine, food shortages, economic crisis, corruption, disease, slavery, etc., and people are up in arms about abortions. I, personally, think it is the right of the women, who have to carry the child, to do what they think is best, and not a bunch of radical pro-lifers. One of the best ways to avoid abortion is to avoid getting pregnant, and that starts with education. While we shut down Planned Parenthood, or try to curtail their programs, we simultaneously tell our children in school to explore the sexuality, be they gay or straight. When you have idiots like the Duggars, or Octomom, I think in many instances abortions are a very good thing.
agree to disagree
I am speaking up for the the women and mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers and human beings who have worked to preserve a woman's right to control her womb. It is not the property of the US Congress!
I didn't know it was a contest: "Who benefits the most?"
And don't forget, "Sister Wives", pdnet!
You aren't speaking for anyone but yourself, Lake...
...and no one performs more abortions than Planned Parenthood, nor does anyone depend on abortion more than Planned Parenthood for their bottom line so your claim they reduce abortions, or even want to reduce abortions, is a blatant lie.
Again, the book by Abby Johnson makes that clear, and I think her 8 years within Planned Parenthood puts her in a pretty good position to judge. It is a very good book, BTW, to help pro-lifers understand the mindset of people who work in abortion clinics. After reading it I realized that many people who work in abortion clinics are living a rather tragic existence.
I know it bugs you,
But most women I know are for women controlling their own uteri. If you allow the government into your womb, what next? The government telling us who should get heart transplants? The government limiting the number of children you can have?
(Now, you can call all my friends out.)
Agree, eyolf, and I am grateful the righties are using this issue to lead voters to the Democratic Party!
Abortion is not...
..."controlling your uterus". It's generally either a violent "medical" procedure involving a "doctor" jabbing a sharp curette attached to a powerful vacuum into a woman's womb or a chemical warfare procedure that only God knows what sort long term effects it will have on the women involved.
It is hilarious that you are worried about the government telling us what to do when it involves matters of certain life and death, but not when it involves things like whether you can order a big gulp in NYC, or whether you should be able to own a firearm. Lefties are really selective in their concern over human freedom, aren't they.
And Ey, are you saying you would be upset if it could be proven that people in this country are having abortions for sex selection purposes? Because I have a hard time believing that would bother you.
Whatever, Judy
What do you suppose the next attack against women will be? Guess I will just wait and be surprised!
Are you kidding?
You have guys putting hits out on their pregnant girlfriends because they won't have an abortion, and you're worried that women will be attacked because we take a stand as a nation that says it's wrong to kill your baby because it's the wrong sex? You're quite the piece of work, Lake.
Muehlbau , Check out the year , Its 2012 ,not the 60s
Being caught in a time warp over the services Planned Parent Hood provides is pretty silly . Judy you should be jumping for joy a half dozen clinics were closed in outstate MN including BRAINERD ,however Im certain you already know that. Now all the " young women who should have access to the VALUABLE services in Outstate MN can ride their scooters to St Cloud MN , or the Twin Cities. Closing those clinics was a real step backwards. However Chip Cravaack thought it was the right thing to do . Still cant understand how that Barney character and Public Television and radio has survived NH Chip one and done term in office.
killing is killing
The government likes to tell everyone how they are to raise their child. Lots of things have changed since the 40-50s. We must make sure our children are receiving an education from 7-16 years old. The government has dictatated on how a child can be punished. Lots of rights have been taken away from parents and given to the child. It isn't all about the adults rights anymore. Ask some farmers years ago who wanted to pull their children out of school for a week during planting season. Or the families who wanted an older child to stay home with a sick young sibling so the parent can go to work (because they needed the money or were able to keep their job). I think the time has come to protect the child before they are born too. Abortions are murdering. Give your child up for adoption.
Planned Parenthood closed those clinics...
...because handing out birth control doesn't make them any money, abortion does. And birth control services are still available in Brainerd through the women's specialty clinic, you silly, silly boy. Get your facts straight.
As for it being stuck in a time warp, that honor goes to the pro-abortionists. Most people who have their eyes open have witnessed the negative effects of "safe, legal abortion" on people they know.
But I want to pin you pro-aborts down. Do you all think it's perfectly okay to abort a baby because it's not the "right sex?" I wouldn't be surprised if you were, but I'd like to see you take credit for that position if that's what you believe.
For a dominant species (Mankind)
do you know that we wipe out, as in extinct, 3 species of animals and/or plants at a rate of 3/hour! Every day, up to 150 species are lost. Every year, between 18,000 and 55,000 species become extinct. For a group of people to talk about the violence to the unborn during an abortion, I don't see mankind dying off too soon.
I noticed, too.
He's so agreeable. That's why he is the point leader!
Lake and ey
On some issues I do not agree with the conservative point of view, and this is one of them. I, as a man, do not think it is my right to tell any woman what to do with her body. Abortion is one of those touchy subjects in which I can see both sides, but the pro-life side is usually mired in religious rhetoric and emotions. When you consider that 1 in 3 women have an abortion at some point in their lives, the point shouldn't be who should and shouldn't have an abortion, but what is the safest way, and what are the alternatives
Abortion was a Man's Idea Sold to Ignorant Women Movement
Muehlbau is right "... I am a woman, so don't lecture me about women's rights. Men are the ones who benefit most from abortion." Thanks you for saying this. You are one of the very few women who have ever taken the time to figure this out.
Abortion alleviates men of any responsibility for free sex! They sold it to an ignorant women's movement and made it their idea. They had to deceive them into violating their maternal instincts and then "depersonalize" the baby by making it "fetal tissue" then told the majority of mystified shocked Americans as they watched mothers killing their own babies and said "keep your laws off my body!"
Yes, jj
Let's just lump all women together and call them ignorant and say that they blindly follow men around and do their bidding.
That is such a crock.
Some old crones don't do our bidding.
They do annoy a lot of men though.
Something none of you have
Something none of you have discussed yet is that there are very good medical reasons for SOME (not all) gender selection abortions. There are some conditions that are genetic in nature that are passed only from mother to son or father to daughter, etc. If one parent carries the gene, and still wants to have offspring, it might be wise to be able to select the sex of the baby. For example, I have a friend who is a female who has a bone disorder (she has 2 brothers who are normal). Her father has the same disorder, so did her grandmother. It is disfiguring at best and crippling at worst. It appears that it alternates gender each generation. So she would be very likely to pass it on to her sons, but not likely to pass it on to her daughters. She's the last in the family with the disorder. If she has boys, it could continue. If she has girls, it will stamp out the abnormality. Gender selection may have been a valid choice for her had she chosen to have children.
I think making this a legal issue could have unintended negative consequences.
Furthermore, they plan to enforce it by punishing doctors for not getting a reason from the patient before the procedure is performed. So the patient could just lie. This puts an unfair burden on the doctor. What would be the punishment for the parents if caught seeking an abortion for purpose of gender selection? And how long do you think it would be before people would realize that they can't TELL anyone that's the real reason? So how would you decide who is having abortion for gender selection and who isn't? Would you just profile people and assume any Asian American woman seeking abortion must be guilty?
And call me naive....but how many women actually find out the sex of the baby early enough to have an abortion? Wouldn't you have to have amniocentisis or something to find out the sex that early? How often does that happen?
This law
Is not about gender selectivity. It is about garnering in votes. After November, it will be a non-issue once again.
Remember the vaginal probe law in Virginia went away after those old white men found out what it actually was when the women there all rallied to show them.
Selective Breeding
So many comments, all focused on politics. Did none of you understand Keith's point? He wrote, "Is this a signal from our government that the right to abort a child is more important than systematically killing off a generation of female leaders and, of course, mothers?" Why are not more women standing up to yell "stop it now?" The silence from women's organization is deafening. They don't want to step on any political toes.
Take politics out of the equation. Taking a life, born or unborn, is wrong. Abortion of any kind is morally despicable. Allowing women to kill their unborn child because of it's sex is bringing us one step closer to the same thinking that allowed Hitler to kill millions.
Change the bill in Congress to punish the mothers instead of the doctors. Common sense has turned into uncommon cents. If we don't take a stand and stop the annihilation of an unborn generation of females, then government will reign supreme. Heil Hitler!