Thousands of Australian girls have gone missing as a result of sex-selective abortions.
And it's estimate that over 140 million females are missing worldwide because of discriminatory sex-selective practices such as this, with 22 million more to go missing by 2100 based on current trends.
The United Nations Population Fund has said that "the rise in sex selection is alarming as it reflects the persistent low status of women and girls". The damaging effect of millions of missing girls worldwide includes increased aggression, sexual violence, sex trafficking, bride-buying and forced prostitution.
Boys are highly prized in many ethnic communities, and recent research in Australia indicates that some parents are aborting their babies after discovering they are expecting a girl. Pressure is also on to change the rules to allow for IVF sex-selection as well.
But Australia is better than this – babies shouldn’t be aborted just because they’re the “wrong sex”.
All abortion is harmful to women and children but aborting a child on the basis of sex should be something we can all agree is wrong.
Sign this petition today to call on Health Minister Mark Butler to ban the use of your taxes for Medicare funds being used for sex-selective abortions.