Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., has introduced legislation to ban abortions motivated by the gender or race of the baby, which would also allow for the prosecution of abortion providers (including Planned Parenthood, potentially) who offer sex-selective or racially-selective abortions.
“Sex-selection is happening in the United States,” Franks wrote in a letter to other legislators last week, citing a study that showed “certain segments of the U.S. population –particularly those coming from countries that practice sex-selection abortions — have unnaturally skewed sex-ratios at birth caused by sex-selection “most likely at the prenatal stages.”
Franks explained that “the woman seeking [such] an abortion is exempt from prosecution, while abortion providers are held to account.”
Maggie Gallagher, director of the Culture War Victory Fund, released a statement pushing the bill in advance of a hearing on the legislation scheduled for tomorrow. “Targeting babies for abortion based on their gender or race is not only barbaric, it is a clear violation of the 14th Amendment’s solemn guarantee of ‘equal protection of the laws,'” she said. “The more American voters learn about the practice—and Congress’ failure to stop it—the more concerned they are going to be.”
Franks’ clearly has Planned Parenthood in mind with the provision banning race-selection abortions. “The race-selection prohibition addresses the issues revealed in a 2007 expose by LiveAction films,” Franks explained in the letter, “which caught Planned Parenthood clinic representatives on tape agreeing to accept funds earmarked for the abortion of minority babies only.”
