Effects Of Abortion On Men

Stop ignoring historical western advocacy of sex selection

Mara Hvistendahl, a correspondent with Science magazine and author of the recently published "Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men," writes in a Foreign Policy feature that "as American politicians argue over whether to cut Planned Parenthood's U.S. funding and the Christian right drives through bans on sex-selective abortion at the state level, the effects of three decades of sex selection elsewhere in the world are becoming alarmingly apparent. In China, India, Korea, and Taiwan, the first generation shaped by sex selection has grown up, and men are scrambling to find women, yielding the ugly sideblows of increased sex trafficking and bride buying."

She concludes, "Four decades ago, Western advocacy of sex selection yielded tragic results. But if we continue to ignore that legacy and remain paralyzed by heated U.S. abortion politics, we're compounding that mistake. Indian public health activist [Sabu] George, indeed, says waiting to act is no longer an option: If the world does 'not see ten years ahead to where we're headed, we're lost'" (6/27).

Too many men: the shocking effects of abortion in Asia | The ...

, Which has undoubtedly contributed to the steady increase in the reported SRB from 106 in 1979, to 111 in 1990, 117 in 2001 and 121 in 2005,” said the study.

India has seen “sex ratios as high as 125 in Punjab, Delhi and Gujarat in the north but normal sex ratios of 105 in the southern and eastern states of Kerala and Andhra Pradesh,” it added.

In parts of China where a second child is allowed, after a daughter is the first born, the SRB for the second is 143, suggesting that many choose to abort a second girl fetus in favor of trying again for a boy.

Estimates of China’s actual population difference in 2005 pointed to 1.1 million excess males, with men under 20 exceeding the number of females by around 32 million, said the study led by Therese Hesketh, University College London Centre for International Health and Development.

“These men will be unable to marry, in societies where marriage is regarded as virtually universal, and where social status and acceptance depend, in large part, on being married and creating a new family,” said the authors.

Referred to in China as “guang gun,” meaning “bare branches,” these men are presumed to be unable to bear fruit by coupling and raising a family.

“In China and parts of India the sheer numbers of unmated men are a further cause for concern,” said the study.

As far as the population-control authorities in China are concerned, the preference for boys is not a bug but a feature. If you have a 1/2-billion men and a 1/2-billion women, and you let them have 1 child each and they let nature take its course, then in the next generation you have 250 million couples each caring for 1 child and 4 parents. But if the couples “make their own luck” by offing their daughters, you get something more like 210 million daughters and 280 million sons. Which turns into 210 million couples each caring for 1 child and 4 parents, and 70 million permanently single men taking care of their parents. In just one generation, you cut the population by another 40 million past the “one family one child” policy alone.

China is facing a demographic train wreck — a billion very poor people facing old age in a culture where the daughter-in-law is designated as their caregiver.

Some have argued this was an intended effect of the One Child policy all along. What does a nation do with many millions of unattached males ? I’m hoping the priesthood opens up in China to bring something good out of this bad situation. The other option would be a very large expansion of China’s military, which has already been happening.

Understanding Human Behavior and the Social Environment

Healing a Father's Heart, A Post-Abortion Bible Study for Men

Family caps, abortion, and women of color, research connection and political rejection

The sacred gift of life, Orthodox Christianity and bioethics

Abortion counseling, a clinician's guide to psychology, legislation, politics, and competency