Pro-life advocates have welcomed a move to ban sex-selective abortion in New South Wales, following explosive new research indicating the practice is already used in the country to preference boys.
New South Wales Libertarian MP John Ruddick, who supported a failed amendment to ban the practice during the state’s recent abortion reform debate, plans to introduce a bill, likely in October, aimed specifically at banning sex-selective abortion.
Ruddick told The Catholic Weekly he was bolstered by an Edith Cowan University study revealing a disproportionate number of male over female births among certain migrant populations in New South Wales and Western Australia during the period 1994-2015.
The study published in Global Public Health journal in May was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council.
While the typical sex ratio at birth (SRB) in most parts of the world is approximately 105 boys per 100 girls the researchers, led by perinatal epidemiologist Amanuel Gebremedin, found children born to Indian, Chinese and Vietnamese migrants had a ratio skewed towards boys that exceeded the expected ratio.
They said it was indirect evidence of sex-selective abortion practices.
“The increasing availability of non-invasive prenatal testing, which can determine fetal sex as early as 10 weeks, has raised some ethical concerns regarding its potential misuse for sex-selective abortion,” the researchers noted.
“Indian and Chinese mothers had much higher induced abortion rates in early pregnancy than their Australian counterparts, which coincided with the introduction of non-invasive prenatal testing.
“This study provides the most compelling observational evidence to date of male-biased SRB among overseas-born mothers, which appears to be attributed to prenatal sex determination followed by selective abortion of females.”
While the findings should be interpreted with “caution”, “the overall trend of male-biased SRB “remains consistent and aligns with existing literature on sex ratio imbalances among immigrant groups, particularly from countries with a strong son preference.”
“The Greens said our amendment was not necessary because it’s not happening, then we saw that Edith Cowan research,” Ruddick said.
“The evidence is absolutely bullet-proof that this is happening.
“So I am hopeful we can actually get this bill through and it will be the beginning of reversing the tide against radical abortion laws we currently have in New South Wales.
“It’s an appalling problem and I think if this law gets up, the problem will cease.
“The majority of Chinese and Indian parents in this country are obviously not engaging in this. Some are, and this law would help shape their understanding about what is acceptable in Australia.”
Monica Doumit, Director of Public Affairs and Engagement for the Archdiocese of Sydney, hopes the bill receives broad support.
“It would be absolutely shocking if any politician was in favour of killing a child in the womb simply because it was a baby girl,” she said.
“Surely our MPs can’t be so committed to the ideology of abortion on demand that they would block an attempt to prevent sex-selective abortion.”
Chief Executive Officer of Women’s Forum Australia Rachael Wong said it was not the first time Australians have been presented with evidence that sex selective abortions are being undertaken in the country.
“Still nothing is being done to guard against this abhorrent practice, which we know disproportionately impacts little girls in son-preference cultures, not to mention their mothers who often face coercion to abort their daughters,” she said.
“In fact, ‘abortion law reform’ allowing abortion on request, means that sex selective abortion is effectively and shamefully legal around Australia. In this regard, it is particularly appalling that NSW politicians have previously voted down protections against sex selective abortion.
“A reluctance to address this issue seems to stem from a desire to not want to threaten the so-called ‘right to abortion’ as well as a concern about appearing ‘racist’, neither of which are legitimate justifications for ignoring this insidious sex-based violence and discrimination being waged against our girls before they are even born.”
South Australia-based pro-life advocate Joanna Howe said she would like to see a national ban on the practice but was “excited” to hear Ruddick intended to prepare draft legislation for New South Wales.
“We already have a ban on sex-selective abortion in South Australia and now we have definitive proof it happens in our country. We need urgent action to address the problem,” she told The Catholic Weekly.
Howe said it is known “without a doubt that baby girls are being killed just because of their gender.”
“What’s been remarkable is the deafening silence from pro-abortion politicians, the abortion industry and the media,” she said in a statement on social media.
“They claim to be pro-women, they say we love abortion because they are pro-women, but it’s clear that they love abortion more than they love women and girls.”
In 2021, following the decriminalisation of abortion in New South Wales, Reverend Fred Nile was unsuccessful in introducing a bill aimed to ban sex-selective abortion in order to protect unborn girls.