Swedish health officials ruled this week that gender-based abortions must be allowed in the first trimester. The ruling followed reports that a Swedish woman sought two abortions after finding out she was pregnant with girls. The Local, Sweden’s English newspaper, reported:
[The woman] twice had abortions after finding out the gender of the child. The woman, who already had two daughters, requested an amniocentesis in order to allay concerns about possible chromosome abnormalities. At the same time, she also asked to know the fetus's gender.
The woman’s reasoning behind the abortion concerned Swedish doctors, who then turned to the National Board of Health and Welfare in Sweden. Doctors felt pressured when they knew the woman intended to abort her child based upon the gender and sought guidelines from the Swedish medical body on what to do in such a situation.
Unfortunately, the Swedish board did nothing to protect the unborn and nothing to assist doctors put in an incredibly difficult position. According to the Local:
The board has now responded that such requests [to reveal the gender of the fetus] and thus abortions cannot be refused and that it is not possible to deny a woman an abortion up to the 18th week of pregnancy, even if the fetus's gender is the basis for the request.
Sweden has embarked on a dangerous path. By validating sex-selection as a reason for abortion, they are granting women the right to decide that one human being is more valuable than another. That value, however, can never be granted by another. It is outrageous to think that one person’s worth in this world can be thrown away based upon a trait that an unborn child has absolutely no control over.Read more in the latest edition of "That's an Outrage!"
