United States: Tourist Destination for Sex-Based Abortions?

In the United States, we take pride in our role as a leader in the world on a wide array of human rights issues. We profess to set the standard on the preservation of fundamental human rights. And generally speaking, we back that profession up with action. On most issues, the United States’ beacon of freedom shines bright and attracts countless who are fleeing oppression and human rights violations to our shores.

There is at least one human rights issue, however, where the United States lags far behind, and on which we are attracting visitors for all the wrong reasons. It is the issue of elective abortions for no other reason than the baby is of the “wrong” gender. While most of the industrialized world outlaws elective abortion based on this factor, the United States does not. The result of this failure is that we now find ourselves not only allowing these barbaric acts within our own population, but also as the international destination of choice for those who seek to end the life of a child that is unwanted simply because of the gender of the baby. We are becoming a tourist destination for these acts that are criminal in most of the civilized world.

Fortunately, Congressman Trent Franks (AZ) is attempting to do something about it. This week, the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on a bill he authored: H.R. 3541, the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act (PRENDA). This bill would outlaw abortions based on sex-selection. It would also outlaw solicitation of or participation in such abortions.

Our Declaration of Independence proudly claims that we believe all men are created equal and that our Creator has given each of us a right to pursue life. With this as our motivation, we loudly (and rightly) decry other nations such as China who have used tactics like a “one-child policy” to control population growth. But even China – a country where millions of little baby girls have been aborted because of their gender – has a tougher law on sex-selection techniques than the United States. It’s a shameful place for this great nation to be.

No matter where you stand on the issue of abortion in general, this should be an easy call. Are we going to stand by while our daughters are “terminated” because they are not our sons? Are we going to tolerate it that others are travelling to the United States to end the life of their baby girl because a baby boy has more “value” in their eyes?

These questions are at the very heart of what it should mean to be born in America, the land of the free. If we don’t choose now to reject the path of sex-based abortions, we will lose the foundation on which we stand.

We at the American Center for Law and Justice call on all U.S. Representatives to stand together to outlaw these horrific acts, and call on the U.S. Senate to follow suit. Our future generations literally depend on it.