In the Uttarkashi district of India, there have been 216 boys and no girls born over the last three months, almost certainly due to sex-selective abortion and infanticide. This is a sexist injustice of remarkable gravity, yet American feminists aren’t weighing in at all. Instead, they’re focusing on much more important issues, like forcing other people to pay for their birth control.
This tragedy is taking place in the Uttarkashi region of India, which is north of New Delhi near the border of Tibet. The Times of India reports that 132 villages in the region have been placed under a “red zone” where they will be monitored by accredited social health activists in an effort to end sex-selective abortions.
The gender of a baby cannot be identified until at least 16 weeks gestation age, and that’s with advanced ultrasound technology. People in this area of India, which the Times of India describes as “villages,” do not necessarily have access to advanced ultrasound technology, and they may not be able to access ultrasounds at all. Under this circumstance, the gender of the baby would remain unknown until birth, so the killing of girls would require not abortion, but infanticide.
There are other grave obstructions of basic women’s rights worldwide that American feminists brush aside for other priorities. As of 2017, women in Saudi Arabia cannot apply for a passport without a man’s permission, they cannot wear any cosmetics that enhance their appearance, and female doctors cannot treat male patients.
According to Amnesty International, over 70% of women in Afghanistan face forced marriages, often before the age of 16. The organization also notes that women account for 70% of the world’s poor, meaning there are more than two women in dire poverty for every man in dire poverty. Furthermore, Amnesty International says young girls in India are often sold as sex slaves.
But instead of giving even the slightest mention to these injustices, American feminist organizations like Planned Parenthood and NARAL are concerned with using taxpayer money to pay for abortion and contraceptives. If liberal feminists truly care about women, they should reorganize their priorities and focus on the true injustices committed against women in our world today.
