Scottish Catholic Observer

Writer and researcher Fiorella Nash will be addressing this weekend’s Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) Scotland conference. Ahead of her talk, she told the SCO that ‘gendercide is one of the great social injustices of our time.’

“There are as many as 160 million missing girls out there in the world,” she said. “And just this week the CPS announced they wouldn’t be prosecuting the family of a women who said they pressured her into a sex-selective abortion.”

She said that the problem of families aborting female foetus was particularly bad in India and China but was growing around the world.

“Naturally more boys are born than girls, probably to compensate for the fact that males are likely to die younger,” she said. “So the normal rate is 106 boys to 100 girls. In some parts of China the rate is 140 boys to 100 girls, a huge discrepancy, and in 28 countries around the world the boys side of the ledger is too high.”

She said with ultrasound equipment increasingly cheap it was easier than ever before to find out the sex of a baby before it was born and there were many reasons why some parents choose to abort a girl.

“In some cultures, a boy is a blessing and a girl is seen as a curse,” she said. The dowry system in India means that girls are seen as being very expensive down the line, whereas a boy can help the family’s financial situation later in life. The sad thing is that many feminist groups refuse to address this issue, because it’s related to abortion.”

The consequences of societies with far more men than women were disastrous for women, she said.

“There is an increase in sexual violence and exploitation of women through rape, wife-sharing, baby smuggling and sex trafficking.”

Ms Nash (above, left) urged concerned Scots to put the pressure on politicians.

“There’s a constant need to try and remind government to act on this issue,” she said.

“People should be writing to their MPs and finding out about groups like the invisible girl project that highlights this issue.”

John Deighan (above, right), CEO of SPUC Scotland, said Ms Nash’s address would be part of ‘an incredibly important moment in the history of SPUC—the 50th anniversary of the formation of the society.’

Michael J Robinson, communications director for SPUC Scotland, said: “With 50 million victims of abortion each year worldwide, this is truly the number one human rights issue of our day. I would ask all readers of the SCO to come along to events such as this. Together we can help Scotland to rebuild a culture that supports, affirms and defends life from conception until natural death.”

[email protected]