It is extremely ironic that the right to abortion has materially impacted the “right” to procreation. The thinking appears to be along these lines: The right to terminate a pregnancy means that women also have the right to ensure that they only bear the kind of baby they want when they choose to carry to term. We see this especially in IVF preimplantation testing, which has now—as reported here at SHS—moved to destroying embryos that test for the wrong sex, hair, and eye color.
Well, now information to permit this eugenic cleansing will soon be available to women who became pregnant through intercourse. A test kit is about to be marketed that would permit a pregnant woman to learn the sex of her fetus. From the story:
A new test to reveal the gender of a fetus in early pregnancy has sparked a row over whether it will lead to sex-selection abortions. The American-designed IntelliGender test kit, which can be used from eight weeks after conception, went on sale in Australia last month. Its Australian distributor hopes to launch it in New Zealand within a fortnight...He expected they would sell for about $125.
They do not test pregnancy, so do not require state approval under the Medicines Act, unlike pregnancy tests. To use the new test, a pregnant woman mixes her urine with the kit’s chemicals in the supplied container. If it turns green or black, the fetus is a boy; orange or yellow indicate a girl. The kits are claimed to be 90 per cent accurate, but because patents have not yet been issued, the maker will not reveal the supporting data or the science of how they work.
How ironic that a procedure intended by its supporters to liberate women is likely to become a tool—as ultra sounds have on a mass scale in India and China—enabling the sexist destruction of (mostly) women-to-be. But it won’t matter. Abortion has helped open the door to a eugenic culture in which one of the first casualties—at least for some—has been unconditional parental love of their child.
