Can we talk?

MISSING GIRL CHILDREN

MISSING GIRL CHILDREN -- Worldwide, but predominantly in Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe, little girls are being intentionally eliminated. In China, where there is a one child per family limit, girls are unwanted. Women don’t produce as much income and are more of a burden to a family. Where the sex is known before birth, girls are aborted. In rural areas, girl babies are “exposed” or left outside the villages to die of starvation, neglect, or exposure to the elements or wild animals.
    In recent years, laws have been created in China to punish doctors who reveal the sex of a fetus to its parents, but laws have not eliminated this unnatural selection. The results are beginning to show up in statistics for young adults. Young men, now between 20 and 30, cannot find wives in their age groups and must go to other countries to wed.
    This phenomenon may have begun in China, but it is widespread in parts of India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Korea, Philippines, and much of Africa. Statisticians say Macedonia and Greece and other nearby areas are now practicing prenatal selection in large numbers. The scary news is that some groups are reported as now practicing this in the United States.
    Agencies for children in the third world are predicting the pendulum may begin to swing the other way. With girls and young women being so scarce, the price of a female in the slave trade may go up dramatically. Families may profit more from selling their girl children or putting them into prostitution. Child prostitution is a thriving industry in much of Asia. And the slave trade is far from over, particularly for young women.
      This is alarming to western culture, and to Christians everywhere. It’s hard for us to imagine that all human life is not valued as much as we value it. Exposing babies to the elements or to animals seems particularly barbaric. Selling a member of the family to a brothel is beyond our comprehension. We think how can humans behave this way? We are not a world majority.
      We must be careful that our indifference doesn’t permit these ideas to corrupt our own society. We must be careful to impart our values and our reverence for life to all generations. Our sons and our daughters must know that they matter to us and to all mankind. They need to know we care about all children, boys and girls. And we should speak out when opportunity arises. As residents of the greatest nation on earth and as a people who enjoy great liberty, we need to take seriously the life and welfare of all peoples.