Sex-Selective abortions are officially legal in the United States!

[civ_king]

Your only issue with that article is Formaldehyde's framing text??

It seems rather racist

 

[Arakhor]

Well, he was talking about the article, which specifically mentions Indian women, as well as quite a lot of really objectionable rhetoric.

 

[Dreadnought]

I can certainly see why he is "much beloved" in the very same way that Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, and Rush Limbaugh are. This is clearly a religious war they are engaged in with Satan himself.

I've worked with Chris Smith in the past. He's a good man, much beloved in his (Democrat-leaning) district.

Bolded for emphasis.

 

[Formaldehyde]

It seems rather racist

Does it also seem rather sarcastic?

I think highlighting what a few Indian-Americans might do, while the vast majority clearly don't, to rationalize depriving women of the right to abortions is the racism here. YMMV.

Well, he was talking about the article, which specifically mentions Indian women, as well as quite a lot of really objectionable rhetoric.

Indeed.

Bolded for emphasis.

Do you think he will continue to be "beloved" by Democrats after sponsoring utter partisan nonsense like this?

 

[peter grimes]

Ah, did anyone catch the in-depth segment on this topic on a recent episode of KCRW's To The Point?

They don't have a transcript or streaming option, but at least they link to an Atlantic article by the guest:
http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/article/2012/05/29/son-preference-and-sex-selection-in-america

...alarmists cite an undocumented rise in abortion due to sex selection...

...as of 2006, half of American fertility clinics that offer embryo screening allow would-be parents some form of sex selective add-ons... and the market is growing. Never mind that the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology has come out harshly against non-medically necessary sex selection, and even the American Society for Reproductive Medicine has issued lukewarm cautions about it.

These clinics advertise their sex-selective wares heavily in ethnic language media and enclaves where Asian Americans reside.

Some claim environmental motives. Citing opinion research that most parents desire one of each sex in their offspring, they offer to do this in the first two pregnancies and bring down the birth rate. Others say their services minimize sex-selective abortions, because designing your kid before pregnancy is better than during. A few argue that this is an expression of reproductive freedom. And some proffer no reason for breaking their own professional ethical guidelines -- an unstated affirmation that the customer is always right.

They’re [anti-abortionists] riding this wave to new reasons to control women’s autonomy, specifically to curtail reproductive decision-making for women of color. In 2008, anti-choice groups pushed for legislation to ban sex-selective abortions. Trent Franks (R-AZ) introduced the “Susan B. Anthony and Fredrick Douglass Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act” (PRENDA) to ban sex-selective abortion and a new chimera he called “race-selective” abortion.

Data about sex ratio disparities in specific Asian countries became proxy for sex selection amongst Asian Americans – never mind that the latter group represents a huge range of origin countries and displays sex ratios pretty much identical to the rest of Americans. Details like math and geography need not interfere with a justification for passing this legislation, even in states where few Asians reside.

The article is heavy on the opinion and light on sources, but it's still a very interesting window into this issue. I suggest everyone here give it a read.

As is usually the case, there is a nugget of fact that this overtly political move is based on, but that fact isn't really the one the legislation is designed to address