Sex (And Race) Selection Abortions Illegal In Arizona

Doctors who perform abortions based on the sex or race of the fetus will now be committing a crime in Arizona.

Felony charges will be issued if they can show that the abortion was performed “for the purposes of helping parents select their offspring” because of race or sex. There is no requirement for doctors to ask why women want abortions, but with this law it’s likely they will start to ask and start to record it in the patient records.

The women would not be penalized, just the medical professionals. But, based on other proposed laws such as women being charged for purposefully having a miscarriage, I’m pretty sure that this might be the next bill to be brought to the table and, eventually, the women and their male partners will be charged as well.

Here’s what I don’t understand. Race is a criteria! How is this possible? Surely the child will be a race that’s a mix of its parents?! This part is completely absurd.

On the other hand, maybe a white woman had an affair with a black man and will have a mixed race child, but her husband is white. He doesn’t want to raise another man’s child and the woman regrets the affair and wants the evidence gone. Or, she doesn’t tell her husband but wants an abortion because she doesn’t want it to be obvious she cheated when a black baby pops out. Would these people be denied abortion because of race? How would the doctor ever know? If they told the truth this could be found to be illegal.

The issue of sex I understand. Female infanticide is a big deal in a lot of cultures where male babies are honored and girls are not. We should value our children regardless of their sex. Boys and girls are both special, and as long as the children are healthy nothing else should matter.

Sex selection is also something people might do if they already have 3 boys and want a girl. And again, it shouldn’t matter as long as they are healthy. Every child should be valued.

But what about families with genetic disorders that only affect one sex? Will they be penalized for trying to produce a child without a disease? That is one case that I hope gets an exception.

Opponents of the law say that there is no clear evidence of sex selection currently being an issue in Arizona and don’t think this is a good idea.

I’m not comfortable with sex selection happening and I wish we could stop it altogether, but I also think every woman has the right to choose whether or not to continue a pregnancy. We can never know why a woman might terminate, and she can (and will) lie to get what she wants. Once we start restricting a woman’s choice we are treading down a slippery slope. Where does it end?

Contact the author here: mack@morningquickie.com