Rep. Kelly Cosponsors Bill to Outlaw Gender and Race-Based Abortions

Rep. Kelly Cosponsors Bill to Outlaw Gender and Race-Based Abortions

Washington, DC — Today, U.S. Representative Mike Kelly (PA-03) participated in a press conference officially introducing H.R. 3541, the Prenatal Non-Discrimination Act, which restricts sex-selection abortion and race-selection abortion, and the coercion of a woman to obtain either.  Under H.R. 3541, which was cosponsored by Rep. Kelly, abortion providers, not the women seeking an abortion, would be held accountable for abortions performed on the basis of race and gender.

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Background

• A March 2008 report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that there is "strong son bias" within selected American communities as revealed in census data and "clear evidence of sex selection, most likely at the prenatal stage." The victims of sex-selection abortion are overwhelmingly female, and most sex-selection abortions are grisly, later-term abortions. In addition, the American medical community has publicly taken a stand against sex-selection abortion.  Sex-selection for social reasons, including "family balancing," has repeatedly been denounced by US medical organizations, including the American College of OB-GYNs (ACOG), because of its sexist nature.

• American abortion providers, most of which receive government funds, are responsible for the elimination of nearly 50 percent of African-Americans conceived in the United States each year, as compared to an estimated 20 percent of white unborn children.  The number of abortions financed with earmarked donations is unknown.  In the Spring of 2008, federally funded clinics were exposed as having agreed to accept funds from persons who expressly requested that their donation be used to reduce the African-American population. 

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