Wasn't I Just Talking About Abortion??

How ironic to wake up this morning to the headline that couples in India with access to ultrasound have been finding out the sex of their fetuses and aborting the girls in horrifying numbers. "The British medical journal, the Lancet, published a study Monday quantifying the phenomenon: The report estimated that Indian women aborted a stunning 10 million girls in the two decades leading up to 1998. The study, analyzing data from a national survey of 1.1 million households, calculated that 500,000 female fetuses were aborted each year in India. The 'girl deficit,' as the study labeled it, was more prevalent among educated women and did not vary according to religion, the study found. 'What surprised me was that the data suggest it is a problem right throughout society, particularly among the elites, who have more access to ultrasound equipment and have more spending money,' said Dr. Prabhat Jha of St. Michael's Hospital at the University of Toronto, an author of the study. 'You would think that maybe this happens in more repressive states toward women, but it is happening everywhere in India.' [For the whole article, go to http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/01/10/MNGSIGKT9L1.DTL&hw=india+abortion&sn=001&sc=1000.] So what are we in the pro-choice movement supposed to do with THAT??!! I maintain that every woman, everywhere, should have access to safe and affordable abortions. But it's a sad statement on world cultures -- our own included -- that the choice of when and whether to give birth has become so tied to ability to afford the family one might otherwise cherish..... Hey, maybe that's the real lesson here -- that those of us who would rather that fewer women end up choosing abortion need to be working hard to fight world poverty. I think I'll write to the National Right to Life Committee and make the suggestion....