Changing hearts not laws

Is there a relationship between sex-selection abortion and rape?

I wondered about this, after reading yet another horrid crime in India about gang rape this morning.

So I googled "sex-selection abortion and rape", and sure enough others have put that idea forward as well here and here.

And this article says that according to official data, rapes have more than doubled in India between1990 and 2008.

And Wikipedia says that:
"According to the decennial Indian census, the sex ratio in the 0-6 age group in India went from 104.0 males per 100 females in 1981, to 105.8 in 1991, to 107.8 in 2001, to 109.4 in 2011. The ratio is significantly higher in certain states such as Punjab and Haryana (126.1 and 122.0, as of 2001).[2]"

So sex selection abortions are also on the increase in India, just like rapes.

Then there is this news item from India where the Indian government agency (NCPCR) actually links sex-selection abortion to rape.
"The spate of rapes in Haryana is a reflection of the adverse sex ratio in the state as well as the way the female sex is treated in society, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) said Tuesday and demanded severe punishment for the rapists. Gender discrimination and caste discrimination is reflected in the adverse sex ratio in Haryana. It is reflected in the way girls are treated," Shanta Sinha, NCPCR chairperson, told a TV channel."

Seems to me that the relationship between sex-selection abortion and rape is a factor that cannot be ignored.

Shouldn't we at the very least then, as a country, condemn sex selection abortion?

We already have an MP who wants to do just that: Mark Warawa's motion M-408 which states:
"That the House condemn discrimination against females, occurring through sex-selective pregnancy termination.”

Can we get Mr. Harper on side?

At the time that Mr. Warawa announced his motion, the Globe and Mail said that:
"A spokeswoman from the Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment directly on Mr. Warawa’s motion, noting that it would not come before the House for several months. “The Prime Minister has been clear that we do not intend to reopen the debate on abortion,” Julie Vaux wrote in an e-mail."

But then I remembered Mr. Harper's comments he made to Peter Mansbridge about abortion a year ago:
"No, no, no. Look Peter, I've spent my political career trying to stay out of that issue. It's one on which people, including in my own party have passionate views, they're all over the map, and you know what I say to people...as you know, many people I know are pro-life...what I say to people, is if you want to diminish the number of abortions you've got to change hearts and not laws, and I'm not interested in having a debate over abortion law".

Mr. Harper refuses to have a debate about abortion law, but by his own admission, he is in favour of changing people's hearts. Doesn't it follow then, that a really good vehicle to changing people's hearts is to condemn sex-selection abortion, a practice that may very well be also contributing to some of the very worst violence against women, namely rape?

Mr. Harper says we need to change hearts. This motion will do just that. I don't know how Mr. Harper can not support it.

What do victimized women think?

The press is buzzing over Cardinal Marc Ouellet's comments that abortion is a "moral crime" and that it is unacceptable even in the case of rape. The National Post knows there is nothing new here and that Cardinal Ouellet is simply "reiterating conventional Church doctrine on the subject of abortion."

So what about abortion in cases of rape and incest? Surely we all agree that abortion in these cases is perfectly justifiable, right? But has anyone ever actually researched that question and provided an answer?

Amy Sobie, editor of The Post-Abortion Review, a quarterly publication of the Elliot Institute has:
"Our research shows that most women who become pregnant through sexual assault don't want abortion, and say abortion only compounds their trauma...Typically, people on both sides of the abortion debate accept the premise that most women who become pregnant through sexual assault want abortions. From this "fact," it naturally follows that the reason women want abortions in these cases is because it will help them to put the assault behind them, recover more quickly, and avoid the additional trauma of giving birth to a "rapist’s child…it is commonly assumed that rape victims who become pregnant would naturally want abortions. But in the only major study of pregnant rape victims ever done prior to this book, Dr. Sandra Mahkorn found that 75 to 85 percent did not have abortions. This figure is remarkably similar to the 73 percent birth rate found in our sample of 164 pregnant rape victims. This one finding alone should cause people to pause and reflect on the presumption that abortion is wanted or even best for sexual assault victims...although many people believe that abortion will help a woman resolve the trauma of rape more quickly, or at least keep her from being reminded of the rape throughout her pregnancy, many of the women in our survey who had abortions reported that abortion only added to and accentuated the traumatic feelings associated with sexual assault...This is easy to understand when one considers that many women have described their abortions as being similar to a rape (and even used the term "medical rape), it is easy to see that abortion is likely to add a second trauma to the earlier trauma of sexual assault...Research also shows that women who abort and women who are raped often describe similar feelings of depression, guilt, lowered self-esteem, violation and resentment of men. Rather than easing the psychological burdens experienced by those who have been raped, abortion added to them…"

Maybe we should ask victimized women how they feel, instead of taking the word of abortion advocates.

One woman, Kathleen wrote:
"I, having lived through rape, and also having raised a child 'conceived in rape,' feel personally assaulted and insulted every time I hear that abortion should be legal because of rape and incest. I feel that we're being used by pro-abortionists to further the abortion issue, even though we've not been asked to tell our side of the story."