That's the average daily abortion rate in China, and you can be sure that the great majority of those abortion--13 million yearly--are targeted at baby girls. That is the impetus for this firm reminder from US Rep. Christopher Smith:
“The war on women is very real, and it’s being employed by the Chinese government every day of the week against Chinese women, including mothers, but also against unborn baby girls who are killed simply because they happen to be female,” Smith said.
“And the number of sex-selection abortions in China has no parallel,” Smith said. “It is the direct consequence of the one-child-per-couple policy, and unfortunately, the Obama administration has given money to the very organization – the (United Nations) population fund – that defends to the hilt the one-child-per-couple policy and says it ought to be replicated around the world.”
A 2011 report by the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy states that in 2000 more than half of abortions in China were a result of prenatal sex selection.
Smith called the Democrat charge [that Republicans are waging a war on women] “nonsense” and said that the Obama administration should be helping Chen and his battle against the Chinese government’s forced abortion and sterilization policies.
“They ought to be standing firm with Chen Guangcheng and fighting for his asylum and, on an every day basis, be fighting against China’s forced abortion policy,” Smith said.
Instead, the Obama administration is following China's lead on family planning programs--not only at the UN but in the US--which begin with free hand-outs and end up with coercion on the government dime.
And to the Church's shame, a “Catholic” institution will give a soap-box to the head of the program for one of its graduation events:
Former governor of Kansas and current secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, will be addressing the Georgetown Public Policy Institute.
That explains why when Chen risked everything to escape to the US embassy in China, he saw for himself what our government prioritises:
Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng, who has suffered years of imprisonment and beatings for objecting to forced abortions and sterilizations in his native country, thought he could find shelter and friendship in the United States embassy following his recent escape from house arrest. He is now learning the hard way that the pro-abortion Obama administration, which helps to finance the same “one-child policy” that Chen is fighting, would rather see him disappear.
Pray, friends, and keep your lamps lit.
Comments
“People have realized that the complete removal of the feminine element from the Christian message is a shortcoming from an anthropological viewpoint. It is theologically and anthropologically important for woman to be at the center of Christianity."
This is just another of the unintended consequences of the cultural acceptance of contraception and abortion! Men's sexuality has been robbed of its creative essence. It is now viewed as something that imposes a burden on women (when conception happens to occur), something used to control women or something that is purely recreational. Why would men bother?? In taking away their responsibility, we've also robbed them of their significance! In the big picture of humanity, men have been made into nothing more than a nuisance women have to figure out how to control in order to bring about the next generation. Men don't see it as their task to protect the vulnerable because they see themselves as the vulnerable ones. A few well preserved vials of sperm would make men entirely obsolete in the world's ethos today!!
That is astounding Robin, and good for you for standing up. At the heart of that matter, I think, is even worse than a gender mixing message. There is an increased sharper and sharper focus on the "self." Solid Catholic teaching returns our focus away from ourselves to Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The original sin, Eve denied her womanhood when she desired to be like "gods." Since the only god she knew was the Father. Where was Adam? He stood impotent... in other words, they were divorced. There's a young girl at Robin's son's high school who was just told that she is the center of the universe and it's a tragic disservice to her.
Ditto what Mary said! A lot of high schools have very poor math and science depts, for boys and girls. I also am educated as a chemical engineer, but chose to teach the two years before we had children because its hours were more suited to spending time with children. (I was looking ahead). When it came time and I was pregnant with our first, I realized that I did not want to leave him with someone else, and was able to stay home full time. I am not sure it would have been that easy if we were used to another engineering income and not just a private school teacher income. Also some of my first job offers were out on oil rigs - I had no interest in that at all even though I enjoyed my engineering classes and did well in them. No one discouraged me from an engineering job, on the contrary I got a lot of flack for my decision not to pursue an engineering career.
I've been lurking, but this is one that irritates me. Beats the heck out of me what these "barriers" are. I was educated as a chemical engineer, where 1/3 of our class was women. However, in electrical engineering, only 1 or 2 out of 30 were women. Is it possible that women are Just Not Interested in some areas? Nah, it must be The Man keeping us down so we must legislate (and, I agree -- when they say "legistlate", I hear "quota"). And actually, I have a friend that was also a chemical engineer. When she lost her job, she decided not to go back into engineering and started working from home so she could spend more time with her 3 kids. Also, if nothing else, there are all kinds of incentives for women to enter science and engineering -- scholarships not available to men, guaranteed housing on campuses that do not guarantee housing to the general population, etc. I think you hit the nail on the head when you said that schools in general are not preparing students for the hard sciences. It is truly a sad state of affairs, the lack of science education these days.