In a concerning revelation, Right To Life UK has highlighted the issue of sex-selective abortions, indicating that 400 girls may be “missing” in the UK due to this practice. This claim comes amidst a debate over the legality of sex-selective abortions in the country.
The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) has faced criticism for advising that sex-selective abortions are not illegal. However, the Department of Health and Social Care firmly states that “Sex-selective abortion is illegal in England and Wales and will not be tolerated,” noting that “sex is not a lawful ground for termination of pregnancy.”
Despite this stance, organizations like BPAS and the British Medical Association (BMA) argue that the 1967 Abortion Act does not explicitly prohibit sex-selective abortion. They assert that if other criteria, such as mental health considerations, are satisfied, abortions with a sex preference component might still be permissible.
Right To Life UK referenced government data suggesting the occurrence of sex-selective abortions, predominantly within the Indian community in Britain. An analysis of statistics from 2017 to 2021 revealed “evidence of a statistically significant imbalance in the ratio of males to females at birth for children of Indian ethnicity after 2 or more previous births, in England and Wales… This may indicate that sex selective abortions are taking place.”
The same government report estimated that around 400 sex-selective abortions might have occurred involving female fetuses over the five-year period from 2017 to 2021. The analysis found no additional evidence of sex-selective abortions in the UK during this timeframe.
Catherine Robinson, a spokesperson for Right To Life UK, criticized BPAS’s stance, stating, “It’s irresponsible for BPAS to publish advice suggesting that sex-selective abortion is not illegal, because it risks normalizing sex-selective abortion and is likely encouraging abortions sought purely because of a baby’s sex.”
Robinson expressed concern that women pressured by family members to abort female babies might find it increasingly challenging to resist such pressures.
She further questioned the logic of the government’s position on sex-selective abortions, considering its financial support of BPAS. “The Government must act without delay to cut all funding it provides to BPAS, urgently update legislation to introduce an explicit ban on sex-selective abortion, and must not pursue further changes to legislation, such as those proposed in Scotland, that would likely make this problem much worse,” Robinson stated.
This article was originally written by www.christiantoday.com
