Although many Canadians do not support
abortion, it is a legal act in Canada. In his news article on abortion Bowles (2012) mentioned that female teens who get pregnant do not need the permission of their parents to abort their baby. He also stated that “[i]n fact, most Canadians - 80% according to a 2010 Angus
Reid poll — don’t even know we have no legal restrictions on abortion”. On the other
hand, most Canadians may not be also aware of the fact that the Canadian
government has stopped recording and gathering information about
abortion (Statistics Canada, 2012). I was very shocked
when I read that. Why did the government stop looking at abortion as a serious
issue?
The video above indicates that sex selective abortion has been a social issue in Canada lately, especially in
Asian communities. Warawa & Ambrose (2012) state many women who live in Asian urban societies residing in Canada, started to have abortion
based on the gender of the baby they are carrying. It is more likely for female
babies to be aborted, because they are neither desired nor wanted by their parents.Various
resources explained that girls face discrimination and unjust acts
more than boys, because of their gender and what comes in favor of it. (Warawa & Ambrose, and Vogel 2012). In addition , many women are being forced to give abortion to their
female babies.(Warawa & Ambrose, and Vogel 2012).
Just like a conservative approach to sex selective abortion, the Canadian government should have a similar opinion on abortion, since that it is considered to be a Neo-conservative government. Conservatives oppose abortion and they look at it from a
traditional perspective, supporting the ancient beliefs and thoughts on the
issue (Mullaly, 2006, P. 71). Reporting on a meeting between abortion activists and Catholic students, Bakalinski (2012) explained that conservative deny the women’s right to have
sex selective abortion, and they will completely support the pro-life movement.
I strongly
believe that the issue of sex selective abortion is very important because it has bad effects on the mother and on society as well. For instance, the number
of females in the community will decrease. As a result, a change in the
structure of community will occur, and it will affect all of
us (Warawa & Ambrose 2012). However, abortion in general and selective sex abortion in particular are both linked to poverty, because many families who favor boys over girls
highly suffer from ignorance, and have a lack of education (Warawa & Ambrose, 2012). I
personally believe that women and men were made different for a reason. We both
depend on each other for survival. If we want to stop discrimination towards women, as women we need to
start looking at ourselves differently,with self-respect and appreciation. On
the other hand, men also need to start seeing us as their partners and mates,
not as their competitors or their enemies.
-Farah
-Farah
References:
Bowles,
A.(2011, March 07). Opinion:
Abortion statistics show reality of a land without restrictions.
National
Post. Retrieved from: http://life.nationalpost.com/2011/03/07/opinion-abortion-
statistics-show-reality-of-a-land-without-restrictions/
Bakalinski,P. (2012, November15). Catholic students to meet with
pro-abortion/prostitution
groups on El Salvador trip:
parents group.
Life Sites News. Retrieved from: http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/catholic-students-to-meet-with-pro-abortion-prostitution-groups-on-el-salva
Golobon,
A & Lilley, B. (2012, April 19). Alissa Golobon Byline with Brian Lilley- Sex Selective Abortion.Campaign
Life Tv. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDPHegahmAM
Mullaly,
B. (2006). The New Structural Social Work:
Ideology, Theory, Practice. U.S.A.: Oxford University Press. 71-73
Statistics
Canada 2012, StatCan. Does Canada collect this information? Abortion.
Retrieved from: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/help-aide/collection-eng.htm
Retrieved from: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/help-aide/collection-eng.htm
Vogel,
L. (2012, February 21). Sex
Selection Migrates to Canada. CMAJ. 184(3). Retrieved from:
Warawa,K.
& Ambrose,R. (2012, October 18). The
International Day of the Girl Child ignores Killing of girls by
Sex-selective Abortion. Real Women of Canada. Retrieved from: http://www.realwomenofcanada.ca/international-day-of-the-girl-child-ignores-killing-of-girls-by-sex-selective-abortion/
Farah your article was enlightening. I'm glad you chose to blog on such a sensitive issue.
ReplyDeletePersonally I agree with abortion but not sex selective abortion.
Abortion in Canada is legal but if you chose to abort because it's female maybe there should be laws about this practice. But then again making laws may force these women to seek alternative measures and get an unsafe abortion
How do we deal with this type of situation and protect a women's right to determine if she wants to have a boy or girl?
Jen M
Hello Jen,
DeleteI am on the same page with you to some point.
I like your question.
I believe that it is an individual matter. Each women has the total right to control her body. However, I am not sure about how I feel when it comes to aborting a child, especially if it was based on their gender.
I think it is unfair how many women are dying to get pregnant, while others give abortion to their babies. However, I understand that some women are not ready to become mothers and that some were forced to get pregnant. So, I can not decided. Again, it is a matter of the women and what kind of environment she comes from; her religious beliefs or her cultural baggage.
I would like to find out the answer for your question! Lets do it together.
-Farah
Farah,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your entry because I personally am not educated on abortions, and I was unaware of several points that you presented in your entry. I didn't know that you were able to find out the sex of your baby before deciding if you wanted an abortion or not. I too commend you on this post, because I agree with Jen that abortion is a serious and sensitive issue. I do think that women's rights need to be protected about the choice of having a baby, but I do not believe that sex selective abortions should be a women's right.
-Lyndsay
Hello Lyndsay,
DeleteSame happened to me. I was shocked to figure out that it is possible to know the gender of the baby. I totally agree with you. Women's rights and choices must be protected. No one should do anything he or she does not want to. At the end of the day, the baby is a part of pregnant woman. Therefore, I believe she has the right to have her own decision based on her needs and necessities.
-Farah
Wow, before reading this blog I never would have imagined that this was occurring in Canada but there is such a diversity of Cultures here, I can see how this could be happening. When first reading this blog my first instinct was, that's wrong. How can someone abort a baby because of it's sex. By the time you can find out the sex isn't it late for an abortion anyways? Where are this kinds of abortions occurring? Then I think, as a social worker, we are trained to be sensitive to other people's cultural right. So what's seems so wrong to me is what is the right decision for someone else. Is it right for me to say that a woman who decides to have an abortion because she had unprotected sex and got pregnant is o.k. but it isn't o.k. for someone to have an abortion because of her culture concerning the sex of her baby? I don't know. This is where I struggle. I mean what happens to that child who is born into a family where they are not wanted or are mistreated by their community? I always said each individual case if different and I am neither for or against it as a whole. This blog just made that even more real for me.
ReplyDeleteAngele
Hello Angele,
DeleteThank you for commenting
Just like you I was amazed and yet wondered why and if there was a possibility to know the gender of the baby early.
I see what you are trying to say. I totally agree. I think we need to be moderate in order to see reality as it is, not how we would like to see it.
People differ by the way they think and the way they see things. Thus, we are not supposed to be judges, but rather supporters.
Same here. I think also that it depends on the individual and where he or she is coming from. Again, who are we to judge?
-Farah
Farah,
ReplyDeleteI think you did an amazing job on this blog, there is always something that gets swept under the political rug and it sounds like abortion was the newest dust bunny. I think it is horrific that abortion is used for gendering our children, I mean that we want to ensure we are having a specific sexed child. I can see if medically it is necesary the life of the mother instead of the fetus, or in a rape scenario. I however cannot see personally doing it for the managing of what your child's gender would be. This just shows how once again we as women in most cases are still being oppressed even at the fact that we are in some cases forced to have abortions if we are not carrying the right gendered baby, or even worse the female fetus is oppressed in the manner that it is aborted because a female fetus or baby is less worthy or less wanted than a male one.
This is horrible and I appreciate you sharing the information you have.
Angela
Hello Angela,
DeleteThank you for commenting
I think that you have a good point. There are many things need to be taken into consideration. The healthy and well being of the pregnant woman is very important. However, so is the life of the baby. It is complicated. I guess it is up to making what is right for the women, the baby, and the family.
Farah,
ReplyDeleteI give you huge appreciation for doing this topic. It is a very difficult topic to discuss and I believe you did an excellent job. I was unaware that sex-selective abortion was going on and I do not agree with it. I do not agree with it because of many points you have already pointed out especially the gender imbalance. Altogether it is not right, as you said we need males AND females for survival. I especially enjoyed your ending to the blog post where you said "men need to start seeing us as partners and mates" because it is true, and by them seeing us in this way, maybe Asian females will not be forced to abort their female babies.
Thank you again for writing this blog post
- Kahli
Hello Kahli,
DeleteThank you for your feed back! :D
I can see your post has inspired much debate, and that is a good thing because abortion is definitly an issue that needs to be addressed. I think it is hardly fair for people to say that sex-selective abortion is unacceptable, but abortion in and of itself is just fine, and should be (and is) a right that all women have. So, it is unjust to abort a child based on gender, but women should have the right to abort their child without being asked any questions. This is rather contradictory, is it not? Either one believes that women should have the right to abort their child for any reason and at any point, or laws should be more strict around abortion. Which people are hesitant to suggest.
ReplyDeleteIf, as you say, "women and men are made different for a reason," then it makes sense to me that each and every child is made different for a reason, and has a different purpose in the world. Therefore, I personally am against sex-selective abortion and believe that laws (or lack thereof) surrounding abortion in Canada need to be changed. I find it hard to understand why people are impassioned to fight for the rights of females who are being sex-selectively aborted, but do not agree that every child's future should be fought for.
Canada has no laws restricting aboriton. This means that an abortion to take place until a child is fully delivered from his or her mother. This is rather horrific to think of. I hope that Canada will look at implementing laws around abortion.
-Selina
Hello Selina,
DeleteThank you for commenting
I think that the government should only take a part in educating those women, telling them what their rights are. Neither the government nor anyone has the right to tell ant pregnant woman what she should do. We are individually responsible for the actions we take and the choices we make. I like how you compare both things. Yeah, I think that they are completely different, yet at some point they are the same.
However, the government does not have the right to control other people's lives, but that does not mean that the statistics of abortion should no longer exist. Doing and not doing something, still has an effect on our lives and most importantly on us as well. I do not think that laws are needed, rather I think support and protection programs and initiatives are needed.
-Farah
I did not know that teens do not need parental consent in order to have an abortion. Teenagers under the age of 18 are not allowed to sign themselves out of school, or go on field trips without parental consent--at least where I am from anyway. I do believe that abortion is a touchy subject and relies only within the woman and consultation with a doctor themselves. However, abortion is a performed surgery, and children under the age of 18 in Canada require parental or guardian consent before being operated on. With this, it does not make much sense to me, as comparing it is like the same thing. I also thought there was certain laws on when a child could be aborted, such as before a number of weeks or months had passed. Because of this, I do not understand how women in Canada are being permitted to abort children once they discover the sex of the child, as this was considered as being too far along. If Canada does not have any law against abortion, how is it fair for a poor child to lose its life right before it could be born? I understand that abortion is acceptable in Canada, but I do not understand that sex-selective abortion is not. This is basically the same thing, as they should both be allowed within Canada, or both be illegal. Otherwise, these issues become contradictory.
ReplyDelete- Kara
Hello Kara,
DeleteThank you for your comment!
I totally agree with you. Sex Selective Abortion is still abortion no matter what the reasons for it. As you have said, both of them should be looked at the same way when it comes to legalizing it or not.
just like you, I think it is unfair to allow girls to abort their children without the knowledge of their parents. It is not fair, since that many young women at the age need help and support from their families.
-Farah
Much passion was reflected in this blog. Apparently like many readers, I had no idea this sex-selective abortion was happening. It's frightening to see that this is what modern technology has brought us to: seeing the genders of our babies and deciding whether they deserve to live for that reason. If the gender displeases us, it's allowed to whisk them away and start anew. It's really shocking. I don't want to offend anyone with my opinion, for I do not identify myself as Pro-Life or Pro-Choice when it comes to abortion, but simply as Pro-personal opinion. For me, it's hard enough to swallow that there are some people that readily "fool around" and go through abortions like its nothing, however at least their reasons can be understood. Some women are flat-out not ready to be mothers and that's why they do it. But to prevent a life because it's not the desired gender is going too far in my opinion and I heartily agree with the points you have made on why that is so. You're a brave girl for taking on such taboo subjects in your blogs. Kudos Farah!
ReplyDelete~Valerie
Hello Valerie,
DeleteThank you so much for your comment.
I respect that you are also brave for sharing your opinion on such an intense topic.
I kind of agree with you too. Life should be taken more seriously and abortion should be looked at as a social issue not only as a woman's one.
-Farah