https://orthodoxwiki.org/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=Crawlingpilgrim&feedformat=atomOrthodoxWiki - User contributions [en]2024-03-19T11:55:59ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://orthodoxwiki.org/index.php?title=Talk:Female_feticide&diff=49051Talk:Female feticide2007-03-29T22:40:35Z<p>Crawlingpilgrim: New page: Three things that might improve this article, but for which I do not have the time, currently: 1. A special section devoted to the general treatment of women by Christians in the first fo...</p>
<hr />
<div>Three things that might improve this article, but for which I do not have the time, currently:<br />
<br />
1. A special section devoted to the general treatment of women by Christians in the first four centuries after Christ's Resurrection. Much of this could come from the pertinent chapter in Stark's book, ''The Rise of Christianity''. Why? This would show--''we've faced before''--of the conjunction of feticide/infanticide and the low status of women.<br />
<br />
2. More statistics on female feticide, with a broader base of research. Name organizations responding to this issue? What does the UN say?<br />
<br />
3. Patristic quotes defending babies, the value of females. More thorough theological treatment of this issue.</div>Crawlingpilgrimhttps://orthodoxwiki.org/index.php?title=Female_feticide&diff=48711Female feticide2007-03-27T19:30:44Z<p>Crawlingpilgrim: </p>
<hr />
<div>'''Female feticide''' is the termination of the life of a fetus within the womb on the grounds that its sex is female. '''Female feticide''' is thus the conjunction of two ethical evils: abortion and gender bias. A fetus’s right to life outweighs the parents' rights to wealth, pride, or convenience, whether the fetus is male or female. The term "sex selective abortion" is preferable to the term feticide, since it points to both of the ethical evils inherent in this practice.<br />
<br />
Female feticide has replaced female [[infanticide]] as a means to reduce or eliminate female offspring. In societies where women's status is very low, many female fetuses are rejected. Thus, at least 100 million of the total number of aborted female fetuses have been victims of female feticide. This number is based on a predicted ratio of boy-to-girl births and does not take into account the male and female fetuses that are aborted for non-gender-based reasons. <br />
<br />
The practice of female feticide denies the purpose of all human life—[[salvation]] through [[theosis|transformation]] in the image of God. An aborted fetus is denied this transformation in its fullest sense. Therefore, the Orthodox Church, which exists "for the life of the world," has an [[ethics|ethical]] responsibility to denounce the practice of female feticide; to persuade national political and economic leaders to oppose female feticide; to understand and counteract its economic, societal, and religious causes; and to care for those who suffer from its effects.<br />
<br />
<br />
==History==<br />
Many people groups, both eastern and western, have a history of infanticide. For thousands of years, parents have exterminated baby girls by poisoning, strangling, or burying them alive. This practice decreased in the Greco-Roman world as Christianity flourished&sup1; and is nearly non-existent in the West today.<br />
<br />
In countries such as China and India, the practice of infanticide continued into the 20th century. However, the 1970s saw a dramatic drop in the girl-to-boy ratio in India, when abortion was legalized and ultrasound technology enabled families to determine the sex of their child by the fourth month of pregnancy. By 2005 the ratio slipped to 814 girls for every 1,000 boys, as opposed to the natural rate of 952 girls for every 1,000 boys.<br />
<br />
According to the British medical journal Lancet, approximately 50 million girl fetuses have been victims of feticide in China. In India the number is estimated at 43 million.&sup2 Approximately seven million more are credited to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, and South Korea. Because China and India account for 40% of the world’s population, an imbalance in these two countries alone has a profound impact on global population statistics.&sup3; According to a December 2007 UNICEF report, India is "missing" 7,000 girls per day, or 2.5 million each year.<br />
<br />
==Case Study: India&sup4;==<br />
===Traditional Practices of India===<br />
The life of a woman in India is often marked by such disrespect that some feel it is better for the family, and even for the baby girl, that she not be born. Perhaps the greatest factor in this is the practice of dowries. One slogan of the female feticide industry is "better 500 rupees now [for an abortion] rather than 50,000 rupees later [for a dowry]." The first amount equals about $11 (USD), the second about $1,100. India has a longstanding tradition of requiring a wife's family to support her financially in her marriage. This begins with a dowry of extraordinary sums of cash, gold, and goods.<br />
<br />
Defenders of this system point out that a dowry takes the place of inheritance, which some women in India do not receive. However, in many cases the groom's parents take possession of the dowry and do not set any of it aside for the bride's future use. Furthermore, the bride's family's responsibilities extend to further supporting the new family in substantial ways, beyond the initial dowry. Some Indian castes even require a wife’s family to cover her funeral expenses. Some brides have been rejected by the groom's families and even killed because their families did not meet the groom's family's expectations for dowry. All these cultural and financial factors act as disincentives for Indian families to permit their girl babies to be born.<br />
<br />
===Effects of Female Feticide in India===<br />
Female feticide has adversely affected Indian society. 36% of men between the ages of 15 and 45 in the wealthy state of Haryana are unmarried. This prevalence of unmarried men has a destabilizing effect that counteracts the stabilizing and enriching effects of families in a society. The poorer of these unmarried men seek brides from India's economically challenged eastern states, and wives obtained in this way tend to be exploited and in some cases passed on from one husband to the next.<br />
<br />
The sex imbalance in India will have an increasingly destabilizing effect on a consumer of U.S. nuclear and other military technology. India's economy promises to continue growing rapidly in the future, as currently thriving industries such as information technology grow and expand throughout India. It remains to be seen whether India's moral character will keep pace with its economic growth.<br />
<br />
===Who is Responsible?===<br />
This ethical problem goes along with economic growth in many cases. It is the wealthy families that can afford ultrasounds and abortions. If unchecked, the problem will grow in proportion to the Indian economy. <br />
<br />
The parties responsible in this genocide include parents, Indian society, Indian government and religious leaders, worldwide consumers, trade partners and allies of India, and corporations such as GE who supply many ultrasound machines that are used primarily for purposes of feticide.<br />
<br />
==Global Effects of Female Feticide==<br />
All countries where female feticide is practiced are at risk for being caught in a vicious circle. Female feticide leads to low female-to-male ratios, which in turn perpetuates low status of women. Conversely, low status of women leads to more female feticide.<br />
<br />
Rodney Stark, in ''The Rise of Christianity'', points out that one of the ways Christianity revolutionized the status of women in Greco-Roman society was by opposing all infanticide. Stark cites the social scientific work of Guttentag and Secord "linking cross-cultural variations in the status of women to cross-cultural variations in sex ratios. ... To the extent that males outnumber females, women will be enclosed in repressive sex roles as men treat them as 'scarce goods.' Conversely, to the extent that females outnumber males ... women will enjoy relatively greater power and freedom." As the ratio of women to men increased, women came to enjoy higher status in the society as a whole, not only amongst the growing proportion of Greco-Romans who were Christians.&sup5;<br />
<br />
If an increase in ratio of women to men brings higher status to women, a decrease in this ratio risks the opposite effect. Thus, the decrease in the boy-to-girl birth ratio, itself the result of the low status of women in Indian society, risks a sharp further decrease in the status of women from bad to worse. The danger is a vicious circle bringing continually greater female feticide and lowering of the status of women in Indian society.<br />
<br />
All countries where female feticide is practiced are at risk for falling into this vicious circle. Therefore, it is especially urgent for Orthodox Christians to respond to female feticide.<br />
<br />
=Response to Female Feticide=<br />
There are a number of possible responses to the worldwide problem of female feticide. The most fundamental response is to decry the practice of abortion and the circumstances that lead women to resort to it as their best option. The hypocrisy of abortion rights advocates is revealed by their denouncing of the female feticide. It is as if a woman's "rights" to an abortion depend on her motives. If she chooses an abortion for financial, social, or personal reasons, she is supported. However, if her choice is gender-based, it is condemned. The very naming of gender-based abortion as female feticide reveals a double standard. Abortion is supported as a fundamental right, but that right is revoked when it coincides with gender discrimination.<br />
<br />
In India, a proposed nationwide network of orphanages would take in unwanted girl babies. This is a merciful response to the symptom of the problem, but it does not seek to treat the problem itself. Some radiologists and obstetricians in India oppose female feticide vocally, while others oppose it silently.<br />
<br />
What distinguishes female feticide from the problem of abortion in general is a lack of due respect, status, and freedom to women in society. Therefore, the Orthodox Christian response to female feticide must involve changing the way society envisions the relationship of women and men in the home and in society. As women's status increases, female feticide will decrease, and increasing the status of women will likewise decrease the practice of female feticide.<br />
<br />
==Footnotes==<br />
1. ''The Rise of Christianity'', Rodney Stark, Princeton University Press (1997), p. 128.<br />
<br />
2. "Missing female births in India," ''The Lancet'', Volume 367, Issue 9506, Pages 185-186.<br />
<br />
3. "India's imbalance of sexes," in ''The Washington Times'', February 26, 2007.<br />
<br />
4. Taken from "India's imbalance of sexes," in ''The Washington Times'', February 26, 2007.<br />
<br />
5. ''The Rise of Christianity'', Rodney Stark, Princeton University Press (1997), p. 102.<br />
<br />
==Links==<br />
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex-selective_abortion<br />
<br />
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0113/p01s04-wosc.html<br />
<br />
A four part series in the Washington Times:<br />
<br />
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20070226-124608-6785r.htm<br />
<br />
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20070226-115011-6073r.htm<br />
<br />
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20070228-113751-7882r.htm<br />
<br />
==Further Reading==<br />
*''The Rise of Christianity'', Rodney Stark, Princeton University Press (1997)<br />
*''May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons'', Elizabeth Bumiller.<br />
*''Woman, An Endangered Species?'', Mary Scaria.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Ethics]]</div>Crawlingpilgrimhttps://orthodoxwiki.org/index.php?title=Female_feticide&diff=48710Female feticide2007-03-27T19:28:25Z<p>Crawlingpilgrim: </p>
<hr />
<div>'''Female feticide''' is the termination of the life of a fetus within the womb on the grounds that its sex is female. '''Female feticide''' is thus the conjunction of two ethical evils: abortion and gender bias. A fetus’s right to life outweighs the parents' rights to wealth, pride, or convenience, whether the fetus is male or female. The term "sex selective abortion" is preferable to the term feticide, since it points to both of the ethical evils inherent in this practice.<br />
<br />
Female feticide has replaced female [[infanticide]] as a means to reduce or eliminate female offspring. In societies where women's status is very low, many female fetuses are rejected. Thus, at least 100 million of the total number of aborted female fetuses have been victims of female feticide. This number is based on a predicted ratio of boy-to-girl births and does not take into account the male and female fetuses that are aborted for non-gender-based reasons. <br />
<br />
The practice of female feticide denies the purpose of all human life—[[salvation]] through [[theosis|transformation]] in the image of God. An aborted fetus is denied this transformation in its fullest sense. Therefore, the Orthodox Church, which exists "for the life of the world," has an [[ethics|ethical]] responsibility to denounce the practice of female feticide; to persuade national political and economic leaders to oppose female feticide; to understand and counteract its economic, societal, and religious causes; and to care for those who suffer from its effects.<br />
<br />
<br />
==History==<br />
Many people groups, both eastern and western, have a history of infanticide. For thousands of years, parents have exterminated baby girls by poisoning, strangling, or burying them alive. This practice decreased in the Greco-Roman world as Christianity flourished&sup1; and is nearly non-existent in the West today.<br />
<br />
In countries such as China and India, the practice of infanticide continued into the 20th century. However, the 1970s saw a dramatic drop in the girl-to-boy ratio in India, when abortion was legalized and ultrasound technology enabled families to determine the sex of their child by the fourth month of pregnancy. By 2005 the ratio slipped to 814 girls for every 1,000 boys, as opposed to the natural rate of 952 girls for every 1,000 boys.<br />
<br />
According to the British medical journal Lancet, approximately 50 million girl fetuses have been victims of feticide in China. In India the number is estimated at 43 million.&sup2 Approximately seven million more are credited to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, and South Korea. Because China and India account for 40% of the world’s population, an imbalance in these two countries alone has a profound impact on global population statistics.&sup3; According to a December 2007 UNICEF report, India is "missing" 7,000 girls per day, or 2.5 million a year.<br />
<br />
==Case Study: India&sup4;==<br />
===Traditional Practices of India===<br />
The life of a woman in India is often marked by such disrespect that some feel it is better for the family, and even for the baby girl, that she not be born. Perhaps the greatest factor in this is the practice of dowries. One slogan of the female feticide industry is "better 500 rupees now [for an abortion] rather than 50,000 rupees later [for a dowry]." The first amount equals about $11 (USD), the second about $1,100. India has a longstanding tradition of requiring a wife's family to support her financially in her marriage. This begins with a dowry of extraordinary sums of cash, gold, and goods.<br />
<br />
Defenders of this system point out that a dowry takes the place of inheritance, which some women in India do not receive. However, in many cases the groom's parents take possession of the dowry and do not set any of it aside for the bride's future use. Furthermore, the bride's family's responsibilities extend to further supporting the new family in substantial ways, beyond the initial dowry. Some Indian castes even require a wife’s family to cover her funeral expenses. Some brides have been rejected by the groom's families and even killed because their families did not meet the groom's family's expectations for dowry. All these cultural and financial factors act as disincentives for Indian families to permit their girl babies to be born.<br />
<br />
===Effects of Female Feticide in India===<br />
Female feticide has adversely affected Indian society. 36% of men between the ages of 15 and 45 in the wealthy state of Haryana are unmarried. This prevalence of unmarried men has a destabilizing effect that counteracts the stabilizing and enriching effects of families in a society. The poorer of these unmarried men seek brides from India's economically challenged eastern states, and wives obtained in this way tend to be exploited and in some cases passed on from one husband to the next.<br />
<br />
The sex imbalance in India will have an increasingly destabilizing effect on a consumer of U.S. nuclear and other military technology. India's economy promises to continue growing rapidly in the future, as currently thriving industries such as information technology grow and expand throughout India. It remains to be seen whether India's moral character will keep pace with its economic growth.<br />
<br />
===Who is Responsible?===<br />
This ethical problem goes along with economic growth in many cases. It is the wealthy families that can afford ultrasounds and abortions. If unchecked, the problem will grow in proportion to the Indian economy. <br />
<br />
The parties responsible in this genocide include parents, Indian society, Indian government and religious leaders, worldwide consumers, trade partners and allies of India, and corporations such as GE who supply many ultrasound machines that are used primarily for purposes of feticide.<br />
<br />
==Global Effects of Female Feticide==<br />
All countries where female feticide is practiced are at risk for being caught in a vicious circle. Female feticide leads to low female-to-male ratios, which in turn perpetuates low status of women. Conversely, low status of women leads to more female feticide.<br />
<br />
Rodney Stark, in ''The Rise of Christianity'', points out that one of the ways Christianity revolutionized the status of women in Greco-Roman society was by opposing all infanticide. Stark cites the social scientific work of Guttentag and Secord "linking cross-cultural variations in the status of women to cross-cultural variations in sex ratios. ... To the extent that males outnumber females, women will be enclosed in repressive sex roles as men treat them as 'scarce goods.' Conversely, to the extent that females outnumber males ... women will enjoy relatively greater power and freedom." As the ratio of women to men increased, women came to enjoy higher status in the society as a whole, not only amongst the growing proportion of Greco-Romans who were Christians.&sup5;<br />
<br />
If an increase in ratio of women to men brings higher status to women, a decrease in this ratio risks the opposite effect. Thus, the decrease in the boy-to-girl birth ratio, itself the result of the low status of women in Indian society, risks a sharp further decrease in the status of women from bad to worse. The danger is a vicious circle bringing continually greater female feticide and lowering of the status of women in Indian society.<br />
<br />
All countries where female feticide is practiced are at risk for falling into this vicious circle. Therefore, it is especially urgent for Orthodox Christians to respond to female feticide.<br />
<br />
=Response to Female Feticide=<br />
There are a number of possible responses to the worldwide problem of female feticide. The most fundamental response is to decry the practice of abortion and the circumstances that lead women to resort to it as their best option. The hypocrisy of abortion rights advocates is revealed by their denouncing of the female feticide. It is as if a woman's "rights" to an abortion depend on her motives. If she chooses an abortion for financial, social, or personal reasons, she is supported. However, if her choice is gender-based, it is condemned. The very naming of gender-based abortion as female feticide reveals a double standard. Abortion is supported as a fundamental right, but that right is revoked when it coincides with gender discrimination.<br />
<br />
In India, a proposed nationwide network of orphanages would take in unwanted girl babies. This is a merciful response to the symptom of the problem, but it does not seek to treat the problem itself. Some radiologists and obstetricians in India oppose female feticide vocally, while others oppose it silently.<br />
<br />
What distinguishes female feticide from the problem of abortion in general is a lack of due respect, status, and freedom to women in society. Therefore, the Orthodox Christian response to female feticide must involve changing the way society envisions the relationship of women and men in the home and in society. As women's status increases, female feticide will decrease, and increasing the status of women will likewise decrease the practice of female feticide.<br />
<br />
==Footnotes==<br />
1. ''The Rise of Christianity'', Rodney Stark, Princeton University Press (1997), p. 128.<br />
<br />
2. "Missing female births in India," ''The Lancet'', Volume 367, Issue 9506, Pages 185-186.<br />
<br />
3. "India's imbalance of sexes," in ''The Washington Times'', February 26, 2007.<br />
<br />
4. Taken from "India's imbalance of sexes," in ''The Washington Times'', February 26, 2007.<br />
<br />
5. ''The Rise of Christianity'', Rodney Stark, Princeton University Press (1997), p. 102.<br />
<br />
==Links==<br />
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex-selective_abortion<br />
<br />
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0113/p01s04-wosc.html<br />
<br />
A four part series in the Washington Times:<br />
<br />
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20070226-124608-6785r.htm<br />
<br />
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20070226-115011-6073r.htm<br />
<br />
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20070228-113751-7882r.htm<br />
<br />
==Further Reading==<br />
*''The Rise of Christianity'', Rodney Stark, Princeton University Press (1997)<br />
*''May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons'', Elizabeth Bumiller.<br />
*''Woman, An Endangered Species?'', Mary Scaria.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Ethics]]</div>Crawlingpilgrimhttps://orthodoxwiki.org/index.php?title=Female_feticide&diff=48418Female feticide2007-03-24T21:06:18Z<p>Crawlingpilgrim: /* Links */</p>
<hr />
<div>'''Female feticide''' is the termination of the life of a fetus within the womb on the grounds that its sex is female. '''Female feticide''' is thus the conjunction of two ethical evils: abortion and gender bias. A fetus’s right to life outweighs the parents' rights to wealth, pride, or convenience, whether the fetus is male or female. The term "sex selective abortion" is preferable to the term feticide, since it points to both of the ethical evils inherent in this practice.<br />
<br />
Female feticide has replaced female [[infanticide]] as a means to reduce or eliminate female offspring. In societies where women's status is very low, many female fetuses are rejected. Thus, perhaps 300 million of the total number of aborted female fetuses have been victims of female feticide. This number is based on a predicted ratio of boy-to-girl births and does not take into account the male and female fetuses that are aborted for non-gender-based reasons.<br />
<br />
The practice of female feticide denies the purpose of all human life—[[salvation]] through [[theosis|transformation]] in the image of God. An aborted fetus is denied this transformation in its fullest sense. Therefore, the Orthodox Church, which exists "for the life of the world," has an [[ethics|ethical]] responsibility to denounce the practice of female feticide, to persuade national political and economic leaders to oppose female feticide by understanding and counteracting its economic, societal, and religious causes, and to care for those who suffer from its effects.<br />
<br />
<br />
==History==<br />
Many people groups, both eastern and western, have a history of infanticide. For thousands of years, parents have exterminated baby girls by poisoning, strangling, or burying them alive. This practice decreased in the Greco-Roman world as Christianity flourished&sup1; and is nearly non-existent in the West today.<br />
<br />
In countries such as China and India, the practice of infanticide continued into the 20th century. However, the 1970s saw a dramatic drop in the girl-to-boy ratio in India, when abortion was legalized and ultrasound technology enabled families to determine the sex of their child by the fourth month of pregnancy. By 2005 the ratio slipped to 814 girls for every 1,000 boys, as opposed to the natural rate of 952 girls for every 1,000 boys.<br />
<br />
From the time ultrasound technology was introduced in China, approximately 50 million girl fetuses have been victims of feticide. In India the number is estimated at 43 million. Approximately seven million more are credited to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, and South Korea. Because China and India account for 40% of the world’s population, an imbalance in these two countries has a profound impact on global population statistics.&sup2;<br />
<br />
==Case Study: India&sup3;==<br />
===Traditional Practices of India===<br />
The life of a woman in India is often marked by such disrespect that some feel it is better for the family, and even for the baby girl, that she not be born. Perhaps the greatest factor in this is the practice of dowries. One slogan of the female feticide industry is "better 500 rupees now [for an abortion] rather than 50,000 rupees later [for a dowry]." The first amount equals about $11 (USD), the second about $1,100. India has a longstanding tradition of requiring a wife's family to support her financially in her marriage. This begins with a dowry of extraordinary sums of cash, gold, and goods.<br />
<br />
Defenders of this system point out that a dowry takes the place of inheritance, which some women in India do not receive. However, in many cases the groom's parents take possession of the dowry and do not set any of it aside for the bride's future use. Furthermore, the bride's family's responsibilities extend to further supporting the new family in substantial ways, beyond the initial dowry. Some Indian castes even require a wife’s family to cover her funeral expenses. Some brides have been rejected by the groom's families and even killed because their families did not meet the groom's family's expectations for dowry. All these cultural and financial factors act as disincentives for Indian families to permit their girl babies to be born.<br />
<br />
===Effects of Female Feticide in India===<br />
Female feticide has adversely affected Indian society. 36% of men between the ages of 15 and 45 in the wealthy state of Haryana are unmarried. This prevalence of unmarried men has a destabilizing effect that counteracts the stabilizing and enriching effects of families in a society. The poorer of these unmarried men seek brides from India's economically challenged eastern states, and wives obtained in this way tend to be exploited and in some cases passed on from one husband to the next.<br />
<br />
The sex imbalance in India will have an increasingly destabilizing effect on a consumer of U.S. nuclear and other military technology. India's economy promises to continue growing rapidly in the future, as currently thriving industries such as information technology grow and expand throughout India. It remains to be seen whether India's moral character will keep pace with its economic growth.<br />
<br />
===Who is Responsible?===<br />
This ethical problem goes along with economic growth in many cases. It is the wealthy families that can afford ultrasounds and abortions. If unchecked, the problem will grow in proportion to the Indian economy. <br />
<br />
The parties responsible in this genocide include parents, Indian society, Indian government and religious leaders, worldwide consumers, trade partners and allies of India, and corporations such as GE who supply many ultrasound machines that are used primarily for purposes of feticide.<br />
<br />
==Global Effects of Female Feticide==<br />
All countries where female feticide is practiced are at risk for being caught in a vicious circle. Female feticide leads to low female-to-male ratios, which in turn perpetuates low status of women. Conversely, low status of women leads to more female feticide.<br />
<br />
Rodney Stark, in ''The Rise of Christianity'', points out that one of the ways Christianity revolutionized the status of women in Greco-Roman society was by opposing all infanticide. Stark cites the social scientific work of Guttentag and Secord "linking cross-cultural variations in the status of women to cross-cultural variations in sex ratios. ... To the extent that males outnumber females, women will be enclosed in repressive sex roles as men treat them as 'scarce goods.' Conversely, to the extent that females outnumber males ... women will enjoy relatively greater power and freedom." As the ratio of women to men increased, women came to enjoy higher status in the society as a whole, not only amongst the growing proportion of Greco-Romans who were Christians.&sup4;<br />
<br />
If an increase in ratio of women to men brings higher status to women, a decrease in this ratio risks the opposite effect. Thus, the decrease in the boy-to-girl birth ratio, itself the result of the low status of women in Indian society, risks a sharp further decrease in the status of women from bad to worse. The danger is a vicious circle bringing continually greater female feticide and lowering of the status of women in Indian society.<br />
<br />
All countries where female feticide is practiced are at risk for falling into this vicious circle. Therefore, it is especially urgent for Orthodox Christians to respond to female feticide.<br />
<br />
=Response to Female Feticide=<br />
There are a number of possible responses to the worldwide problem of female feticide. The most fundamental response is to decry the practice of abortion and the circumstances that lead women to resort to it as their best option. The hypocrisy of abortion rights advocates is revealed by their denouncing of the female feticide. It is as if a woman's "rights" to an abortion depend on her motives. If she chooses an abortion for financial, social, or personal reasons, she is supported. However, if her choice is gender-based, it is condemned. The very naming of gender-based abortion as female feticide reveals a double standard. Abortion is supported as a fundamental right, but that right is revoked when it coincides with gender discrimination.<br />
<br />
In India, a proposed nationwide network of orphanages would take in unwanted girl babies. This is a merciful response to the symptom of the problem, but it does not seek to treat the problem itself. Some radiologists and obstetricians in India oppose female feticide vocally, while others oppose it silently.<br />
<br />
What distinguishes female feticide from the problem of abortion in general is a lack of due respect, status, and freedom to women in society. Therefore, the Orthodox Christian response to female feticide must involve changing the way society envisions the relationship of women and men in the home and in society. As women's status increases, female feticide will decrease, and increasing the status of women will likewise decrease the practice of female feticide.<br />
<br />
==Footnotes==<br />
1. ''The Rise of Christianity'', Rodney Stark, Princeton University Press (1997), p. 128.<br />
<br />
2. "India's imbalance of sexes," in ''The Washington Times'', February 26, 2007.<br />
<br />
3. Taken from "India's imbalance of sexes," in ''The Washington Times'', February 26, 2007.<br />
<br />
4. ''The Rise of Christianity'', Rodney Stark, Princeton University Press (1997), p. 102.<br />
<br />
==Links==<br />
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex-selective_abortion<br />
<br />
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0113/p01s04-wosc.html<br />
<br />
A four part series in the Washington Times:<br />
<br />
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20070226-124608-6785r.htm<br />
<br />
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20070226-115011-6073r.htm<br />
<br />
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20070228-113751-7882r.htm<br />
<br />
==Further Reading==<br />
*''The Rise of Christianity'', Rodney Stark, Princeton University Press (1997)<br />
*''May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons'', Elizabeth Bumiller.<br />
*''Woman, An Endangered Species?'', Mary Scaria.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Ethics]]</div>Crawlingpilgrimhttps://orthodoxwiki.org/index.php?title=Female_feticide&diff=48417Female feticide2007-03-24T21:05:43Z<p>Crawlingpilgrim: /* Links */</p>
<hr />
<div>'''Female feticide''' is the termination of the life of a fetus within the womb on the grounds that its sex is female. '''Female feticide''' is thus the conjunction of two ethical evils: abortion and gender bias. A fetus’s right to life outweighs the parents' rights to wealth, pride, or convenience, whether the fetus is male or female. The term "sex selective abortion" is preferable to the term feticide, since it points to both of the ethical evils inherent in this practice.<br />
<br />
Female feticide has replaced female [[infanticide]] as a means to reduce or eliminate female offspring. In societies where women's status is very low, many female fetuses are rejected. Thus, perhaps 300 million of the total number of aborted female fetuses have been victims of female feticide. This number is based on a predicted ratio of boy-to-girl births and does not take into account the male and female fetuses that are aborted for non-gender-based reasons.<br />
<br />
The practice of female feticide denies the purpose of all human life—[[salvation]] through [[theosis|transformation]] in the image of God. An aborted fetus is denied this transformation in its fullest sense. Therefore, the Orthodox Church, which exists "for the life of the world," has an [[ethics|ethical]] responsibility to denounce the practice of female feticide, to persuade national political and economic leaders to oppose female feticide by understanding and counteracting its economic, societal, and religious causes, and to care for those who suffer from its effects.<br />
<br />
<br />
==History==<br />
Many people groups, both eastern and western, have a history of infanticide. For thousands of years, parents have exterminated baby girls by poisoning, strangling, or burying them alive. This practice decreased in the Greco-Roman world as Christianity flourished&sup1; and is nearly non-existent in the West today.<br />
<br />
In countries such as China and India, the practice of infanticide continued into the 20th century. However, the 1970s saw a dramatic drop in the girl-to-boy ratio in India, when abortion was legalized and ultrasound technology enabled families to determine the sex of their child by the fourth month of pregnancy. By 2005 the ratio slipped to 814 girls for every 1,000 boys, as opposed to the natural rate of 952 girls for every 1,000 boys.<br />
<br />
From the time ultrasound technology was introduced in China, approximately 50 million girl fetuses have been victims of feticide. In India the number is estimated at 43 million. Approximately seven million more are credited to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, and South Korea. Because China and India account for 40% of the world’s population, an imbalance in these two countries has a profound impact on global population statistics.&sup2;<br />
<br />
==Case Study: India&sup3;==<br />
===Traditional Practices of India===<br />
The life of a woman in India is often marked by such disrespect that some feel it is better for the family, and even for the baby girl, that she not be born. Perhaps the greatest factor in this is the practice of dowries. One slogan of the female feticide industry is "better 500 rupees now [for an abortion] rather than 50,000 rupees later [for a dowry]." The first amount equals about $11 (USD), the second about $1,100. India has a longstanding tradition of requiring a wife's family to support her financially in her marriage. This begins with a dowry of extraordinary sums of cash, gold, and goods.<br />
<br />
Defenders of this system point out that a dowry takes the place of inheritance, which some women in India do not receive. However, in many cases the groom's parents take possession of the dowry and do not set any of it aside for the bride's future use. Furthermore, the bride's family's responsibilities extend to further supporting the new family in substantial ways, beyond the initial dowry. Some Indian castes even require a wife’s family to cover her funeral expenses. Some brides have been rejected by the groom's families and even killed because their families did not meet the groom's family's expectations for dowry. All these cultural and financial factors act as disincentives for Indian families to permit their girl babies to be born.<br />
<br />
===Effects of Female Feticide in India===<br />
Female feticide has adversely affected Indian society. 36% of men between the ages of 15 and 45 in the wealthy state of Haryana are unmarried. This prevalence of unmarried men has a destabilizing effect that counteracts the stabilizing and enriching effects of families in a society. The poorer of these unmarried men seek brides from India's economically challenged eastern states, and wives obtained in this way tend to be exploited and in some cases passed on from one husband to the next.<br />
<br />
The sex imbalance in India will have an increasingly destabilizing effect on a consumer of U.S. nuclear and other military technology. India's economy promises to continue growing rapidly in the future, as currently thriving industries such as information technology grow and expand throughout India. It remains to be seen whether India's moral character will keep pace with its economic growth.<br />
<br />
===Who is Responsible?===<br />
This ethical problem goes along with economic growth in many cases. It is the wealthy families that can afford ultrasounds and abortions. If unchecked, the problem will grow in proportion to the Indian economy. <br />
<br />
The parties responsible in this genocide include parents, Indian society, Indian government and religious leaders, worldwide consumers, trade partners and allies of India, and corporations such as GE who supply many ultrasound machines that are used primarily for purposes of feticide.<br />
<br />
==Global Effects of Female Feticide==<br />
All countries where female feticide is practiced are at risk for being caught in a vicious circle. Female feticide leads to low female-to-male ratios, which in turn perpetuates low status of women. Conversely, low status of women leads to more female feticide.<br />
<br />
Rodney Stark, in ''The Rise of Christianity'', points out that one of the ways Christianity revolutionized the status of women in Greco-Roman society was by opposing all infanticide. Stark cites the social scientific work of Guttentag and Secord "linking cross-cultural variations in the status of women to cross-cultural variations in sex ratios. ... To the extent that males outnumber females, women will be enclosed in repressive sex roles as men treat them as 'scarce goods.' Conversely, to the extent that females outnumber males ... women will enjoy relatively greater power and freedom." As the ratio of women to men increased, women came to enjoy higher status in the society as a whole, not only amongst the growing proportion of Greco-Romans who were Christians.&sup4;<br />
<br />
If an increase in ratio of women to men brings higher status to women, a decrease in this ratio risks the opposite effect. Thus, the decrease in the boy-to-girl birth ratio, itself the result of the low status of women in Indian society, risks a sharp further decrease in the status of women from bad to worse. The danger is a vicious circle bringing continually greater female feticide and lowering of the status of women in Indian society.<br />
<br />
All countries where female feticide is practiced are at risk for falling into this vicious circle. Therefore, it is especially urgent for Orthodox Christians to respond to female feticide.<br />
<br />
=Response to Female Feticide=<br />
There are a number of possible responses to the worldwide problem of female feticide. The most fundamental response is to decry the practice of abortion and the circumstances that lead women to resort to it as their best option. The hypocrisy of abortion rights advocates is revealed by their denouncing of the female feticide. It is as if a woman's "rights" to an abortion depend on her motives. If she chooses an abortion for financial, social, or personal reasons, she is supported. However, if her choice is gender-based, it is condemned. The very naming of gender-based abortion as female feticide reveals a double standard. Abortion is supported as a fundamental right, but that right is revoked when it coincides with gender discrimination.<br />
<br />
In India, a proposed nationwide network of orphanages would take in unwanted girl babies. This is a merciful response to the symptom of the problem, but it does not seek to treat the problem itself. Some radiologists and obstetricians in India oppose female feticide vocally, while others oppose it silently.<br />
<br />
What distinguishes female feticide from the problem of abortion in general is a lack of due respect, status, and freedom to women in society. Therefore, the Orthodox Christian response to female feticide must involve changing the way society envisions the relationship of women and men in the home and in society. As women's status increases, female feticide will decrease, and increasing the status of women will likewise decrease the practice of female feticide.<br />
<br />
==Footnotes==<br />
1. ''The Rise of Christianity'', Rodney Stark, Princeton University Press (1997), p. 128.<br />
<br />
2. "India's imbalance of sexes," in ''The Washington Times'', February 26, 2007.<br />
<br />
3. Taken from "India's imbalance of sexes," in ''The Washington Times'', February 26, 2007.<br />
<br />
4. ''The Rise of Christianity'', Rodney Stark, Princeton University Press (1997), p. 102.<br />
<br />
==Links==<br />
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex-selective_abortion<br />
<br />
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0113/p01s04-wosc.html<br />
<br />
A four part series in the Washington Times:<br />
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20070226-124608-6785r.htm<br />
<br />
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20070226-115011-6073r.htm<br />
<br />
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20070228-113751-7882r.htm<br />
<br />
==Further Reading==<br />
*''The Rise of Christianity'', Rodney Stark, Princeton University Press (1997)<br />
*''May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons'', Elizabeth Bumiller.<br />
*''Woman, An Endangered Species?'', Mary Scaria.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Ethics]]</div>Crawlingpilgrimhttps://orthodoxwiki.org/index.php?title=Female_feticide&diff=48416Female feticide2007-03-24T21:04:46Z<p>Crawlingpilgrim: </p>
<hr />
<div>'''Female feticide''' is the termination of the life of a fetus within the womb on the grounds that its sex is female. '''Female feticide''' is thus the conjunction of two ethical evils: abortion and gender bias. A fetus’s right to life outweighs the parents' rights to wealth, pride, or convenience, whether the fetus is male or female. The term "sex selective abortion" is preferable to the term feticide, since it points to both of the ethical evils inherent in this practice.<br />
<br />
Female feticide has replaced female [[infanticide]] as a means to reduce or eliminate female offspring. In societies where women's status is very low, many female fetuses are rejected. Thus, perhaps 300 million of the total number of aborted female fetuses have been victims of female feticide. This number is based on a predicted ratio of boy-to-girl births and does not take into account the male and female fetuses that are aborted for non-gender-based reasons.<br />
<br />
The practice of female feticide denies the purpose of all human life—[[salvation]] through [[theosis|transformation]] in the image of God. An aborted fetus is denied this transformation in its fullest sense. Therefore, the Orthodox Church, which exists "for the life of the world," has an [[ethics|ethical]] responsibility to denounce the practice of female feticide, to persuade national political and economic leaders to oppose female feticide by understanding and counteracting its economic, societal, and religious causes, and to care for those who suffer from its effects.<br />
<br />
<br />
==History==<br />
Many people groups, both eastern and western, have a history of infanticide. For thousands of years, parents have exterminated baby girls by poisoning, strangling, or burying them alive. This practice decreased in the Greco-Roman world as Christianity flourished&sup1; and is nearly non-existent in the West today.<br />
<br />
In countries such as China and India, the practice of infanticide continued into the 20th century. However, the 1970s saw a dramatic drop in the girl-to-boy ratio in India, when abortion was legalized and ultrasound technology enabled families to determine the sex of their child by the fourth month of pregnancy. By 2005 the ratio slipped to 814 girls for every 1,000 boys, as opposed to the natural rate of 952 girls for every 1,000 boys.<br />
<br />
From the time ultrasound technology was introduced in China, approximately 50 million girl fetuses have been victims of feticide. In India the number is estimated at 43 million. Approximately seven million more are credited to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, and South Korea. Because China and India account for 40% of the world’s population, an imbalance in these two countries has a profound impact on global population statistics.&sup2;<br />
<br />
==Case Study: India&sup3;==<br />
===Traditional Practices of India===<br />
The life of a woman in India is often marked by such disrespect that some feel it is better for the family, and even for the baby girl, that she not be born. Perhaps the greatest factor in this is the practice of dowries. One slogan of the female feticide industry is "better 500 rupees now [for an abortion] rather than 50,000 rupees later [for a dowry]." The first amount equals about $11 (USD), the second about $1,100. India has a longstanding tradition of requiring a wife's family to support her financially in her marriage. This begins with a dowry of extraordinary sums of cash, gold, and goods.<br />
<br />
Defenders of this system point out that a dowry takes the place of inheritance, which some women in India do not receive. However, in many cases the groom's parents take possession of the dowry and do not set any of it aside for the bride's future use. Furthermore, the bride's family's responsibilities extend to further supporting the new family in substantial ways, beyond the initial dowry. Some Indian castes even require a wife’s family to cover her funeral expenses. Some brides have been rejected by the groom's families and even killed because their families did not meet the groom's family's expectations for dowry. All these cultural and financial factors act as disincentives for Indian families to permit their girl babies to be born.<br />
<br />
===Effects of Female Feticide in India===<br />
Female feticide has adversely affected Indian society. 36% of men between the ages of 15 and 45 in the wealthy state of Haryana are unmarried. This prevalence of unmarried men has a destabilizing effect that counteracts the stabilizing and enriching effects of families in a society. The poorer of these unmarried men seek brides from India's economically challenged eastern states, and wives obtained in this way tend to be exploited and in some cases passed on from one husband to the next.<br />
<br />
The sex imbalance in India will have an increasingly destabilizing effect on a consumer of U.S. nuclear and other military technology. India's economy promises to continue growing rapidly in the future, as currently thriving industries such as information technology grow and expand throughout India. It remains to be seen whether India's moral character will keep pace with its economic growth.<br />
<br />
===Who is Responsible?===<br />
This ethical problem goes along with economic growth in many cases. It is the wealthy families that can afford ultrasounds and abortions. If unchecked, the problem will grow in proportion to the Indian economy. <br />
<br />
The parties responsible in this genocide include parents, Indian society, Indian government and religious leaders, worldwide consumers, trade partners and allies of India, and corporations such as GE who supply many ultrasound machines that are used primarily for purposes of feticide.<br />
<br />
==Global Effects of Female Feticide==<br />
All countries where female feticide is practiced are at risk for being caught in a vicious circle. Female feticide leads to low female-to-male ratios, which in turn perpetuates low status of women. Conversely, low status of women leads to more female feticide.<br />
<br />
Rodney Stark, in ''The Rise of Christianity'', points out that one of the ways Christianity revolutionized the status of women in Greco-Roman society was by opposing all infanticide. Stark cites the social scientific work of Guttentag and Secord "linking cross-cultural variations in the status of women to cross-cultural variations in sex ratios. ... To the extent that males outnumber females, women will be enclosed in repressive sex roles as men treat them as 'scarce goods.' Conversely, to the extent that females outnumber males ... women will enjoy relatively greater power and freedom." As the ratio of women to men increased, women came to enjoy higher status in the society as a whole, not only amongst the growing proportion of Greco-Romans who were Christians.&sup4;<br />
<br />
If an increase in ratio of women to men brings higher status to women, a decrease in this ratio risks the opposite effect. Thus, the decrease in the boy-to-girl birth ratio, itself the result of the low status of women in Indian society, risks a sharp further decrease in the status of women from bad to worse. The danger is a vicious circle bringing continually greater female feticide and lowering of the status of women in Indian society.<br />
<br />
All countries where female feticide is practiced are at risk for falling into this vicious circle. Therefore, it is especially urgent for Orthodox Christians to respond to female feticide.<br />
<br />
=Response to Female Feticide=<br />
There are a number of possible responses to the worldwide problem of female feticide. The most fundamental response is to decry the practice of abortion and the circumstances that lead women to resort to it as their best option. The hypocrisy of abortion rights advocates is revealed by their denouncing of the female feticide. It is as if a woman's "rights" to an abortion depend on her motives. If she chooses an abortion for financial, social, or personal reasons, she is supported. However, if her choice is gender-based, it is condemned. The very naming of gender-based abortion as female feticide reveals a double standard. Abortion is supported as a fundamental right, but that right is revoked when it coincides with gender discrimination.<br />
<br />
In India, a proposed nationwide network of orphanages would take in unwanted girl babies. This is a merciful response to the symptom of the problem, but it does not seek to treat the problem itself. Some radiologists and obstetricians in India oppose female feticide vocally, while others oppose it silently.<br />
<br />
What distinguishes female feticide from the problem of abortion in general is a lack of due respect, status, and freedom to women in society. Therefore, the Orthodox Christian response to female feticide must involve changing the way society envisions the relationship of women and men in the home and in society. As women's status increases, female feticide will decrease, and increasing the status of women will likewise decrease the practice of female feticide.<br />
<br />
==Footnotes==<br />
1. ''The Rise of Christianity'', Rodney Stark, Princeton University Press (1997), p. 128.<br />
<br />
2. "India's imbalance of sexes," in ''The Washington Times'', February 26, 2007.<br />
<br />
3. Taken from "India's imbalance of sexes," in ''The Washington Times'', February 26, 2007.<br />
<br />
4. ''The Rise of Christianity'', Rodney Stark, Princeton University Press (1997), p. 102.<br />
<br />
==Links==<br />
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex-selective_abortion<br />
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0113/p01s04-wosc.html<br />
<br />
A four part series in the Washington Times:<br />
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20070226-124608-6785r.htm<br />
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20070226-115011-6073r.htm<br />
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20070228-113751-7882r.htm<br />
<br />
==Further Reading==<br />
*''The Rise of Christianity'', Rodney Stark, Princeton University Press (1997)<br />
*''May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons'', Elizabeth Bumiller.<br />
*''Woman, An Endangered Species?'', Mary Scaria.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Ethics]]</div>Crawlingpilgrimhttps://orthodoxwiki.org/index.php?title=Female_feticide&diff=48415Female feticide2007-03-24T20:39:49Z<p>Crawlingpilgrim: /* Response to Female Feticide */</p>
<hr />
<div>'''Female feticide''' is the termination of the life of a fetus within the womb on the grounds that its sex is female. '''Female feticide''' is thus the conjunction of two ethical evils: abortion and gender bias. A fetus’s right to life outweighs the parents' rights to wealth, pride, or convenience, whether the fetus is male or female. The term "sex selective abortion" is preferable to the term feticide, since it points to both of the ethical evils inherent in this practice.<br />
<br />
Female feticide has replaced female [[infanticide]] as a means to reduce or eliminate female offspring. In societies where women's status is very low, many female fetuses are rejected. Thus, perhaps 300 million of the total number of aborted female fetuses have been victims of female feticide. This number is based on a predicted ratio of boy-to-girl births and does not take into account the male and female fetuses that are aborted for non-gender-based reasons.<br />
<br />
The practice of female feticide denies the purpose of all human life—[[salvation]] through [[theosis|transformation]] in the image of God. An aborted fetus is denied this transformation in its fullest sense. Therefore, the Orthodox Church, which exists "for the life of the world," has an [[ethics|ethical]] responsibility to denounce the practice of female feticide, to persuade national political and economic leaders to oppose female feticide by understanding and counteracting its economic, societal, and religious causes, and to care for those who suffer from its effects.<br />
<br />
<br />
==History==<br />
Many people groups, both eastern and western, have a history of infanticide. For thousands of years, parents have exterminated baby girls by poisoning, strangling, or burying them alive. This practice decreased in the Greco-Roman world as Christianity flourished&sup1; and is nearly non-existent in the West today.<br />
<br />
In countries such as China and India, the practice of infanticide continued into the 20th century. However, the 1970s saw a dramatic drop in the girl-to-boy ratio in India, when abortion was legalized and ultrasound technology enabled families to determine the sex of their child by the fourth month of pregnancy. By 2005 the ratio slipped to 814 girls for every 1,000 boys, as opposed to the natural rate of 952 girls for every 1,000 boys.<br />
<br />
From the time ultrasound technology was introduced in China, approximately 50 million girl fetuses have been victims of feticide. In India the number is estimated at 43 million. Approximately seven million more are credited to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, and South Korea. Because China and India account for 40% of the world’s population, an imbalance in these two countries has a profound impact on global population statistics.&sup2;<br />
<br />
==Case Study: India&sup3;==<br />
===Traditional Practices of India===<br />
The life of a woman in India is often marked by such disrespect that some feel it is better for the family, and even for the baby girl, that she not be born. Perhaps the greatest factor in this is the practice of dowries. One slogan of the female feticide industry is "better 500 rupees now [for an abortion] rather than 50,000 rupees later [for a dowry]." The first amount equals about $11 (USD), the second about $1,100. India has a longstanding tradition of requiring a wife's family to support her financially in her marriage. This begins with a dowry of extraordinary sums of cash, gold, and goods.<br />
<br />
Defenders of this system point out that a dowry takes the place of inheritance, which some women in India do not receive. However, in many cases the groom's parents take possession of the dowry and do not set any of it aside for the bride's future use. Furthermore, the bride's family's responsibilities extend to further supporting the new family in substantial ways, beyond the initial dowry. Some Indian castes even require a wife’s family to cover her funeral expenses. Some brides have been rejected by the groom's families and even killed because their families did not meet the groom's family's expectations for dowry. All these cultural and financial factors act as disincentives for Indian families to permit their girl babies to be born.<br />
<br />
===Effects of Female Feticide in India===<br />
Female feticide has adversely affected Indian society. 36% of men between the ages of 15 and 45 in the wealthy state of Haryana are unmarried. This prevalence of unmarried men has a destabilizing effect that counteracts the stabilizing and enriching effects of families in a society. The poorer of these unmarried men seek brides from India's economically challenged eastern states, and wives obtained in this way tend to be exploited and in some cases passed on from one husband to the next.<br />
<br />
The sex imbalance in India will have an increasingly destabilizing effect on a consumer of U.S. nuclear and other military technology. India's economy promises to continue growing rapidly in the future, as currently thriving industries such as information technology grow and expand throughout India. It remains to be seen whether India's moral character will keep pace with its economic growth.<br />
<br />
===Who is Responsible?===<br />
This ethical problem goes along with economic growth in many cases. It is the wealthy families that can afford ultrasounds and abortions. If unchecked, the problem will grow in proportion to the Indian economy. <br />
<br />
The parties responsible in this genocide include parents, Indian society, Indian government and religious leaders, worldwide consumers, trade partners and allies of India, and corporations such as GE who supply many ultrasound machines that are used primarily for purposes of feticide.<br />
<br />
==Global Effects of Female Feticide==<br />
All countries where female feticide is practiced are at risk for being caught in a vicious circle. Female feticide leads to low female-to-male ratios, which in turn perpetuates low status of women. Conversely, low status of women leads to more female feticide.<br />
<br />
Rodney Stark, in ''The Rise of Christianity'', points out that one of the ways Christianity revolutionized the status of women in Greco-Roman society was by opposing all infanticide. Stark cites the social scientific work of Guttentag and Secord "linking cross-cultural variations in the status of women to cross-cultural variations in sex ratios. ... To the extent that males outnumber females, women will be enclosed in repressive sex roles as men treat them as 'scarce goods.' Conversely, to the extent that females outnumber males ... women will enjoy relatively greater power and freedom." As the ratio of women to men increased, women came to enjoy higher status in the society as a whole, not only amongst the growing proportion of Greco-Romans who were Christians.&sup4;<br />
<br />
If an increase in ratio of women to men brings higher status to women, a decrease in this ratio risks the opposite effect. Thus, the decrease in the boy-to-girl birth ratio, itself the result of the low status of women in Indian society, risks a sharp further decrease in the status of women from bad to worse. The danger is a vicious circle bringing continually greater female feticide and lowering of the status of women in Indian society.<br />
<br />
All countries where female feticide is practiced are at risk for falling into this vicious circle. Therefore, it is especially urgent for Orthodox Christians to respond to female feticide.<br />
<br />
=Response to Female Feticide=<br />
There are a number of possible responses to the worldwide problem of female feticide. The most fundamental response is to decry the practice of abortion and the circumstances that lead women to resort to it as their best option. The hypocrisy of abortion rights advocates is revealed by their denouncing of the female feticide. It is as if a woman's "rights" to an abortion depend on her motives. If she chooses an abortion for financial, social, or personal reasons, she is supported. However, if her choice is gender-based, it is condemned. The very naming of gender-based abortion as female feticide reveals a double standard. Abortion is supported as a fundamental right, but that right is revoked when it coincides with gender discrimination.<br />
<br />
In India, a proposed nationwide network of orphanages would take in unwanted girl babies. This is a merciful response to the symptom of the problem, but it does not seek to treat the problem itself. Some radiologists and obstetricians in India oppose female feticide vocally, while others oppose it silently.<br />
<br />
What distinguishes female feticide from the problem of abortion in general is a lack of due respect, status, and freedom to women in society. Therefore, the Orthodox Christian response to female feticide must involve changing the way society envisions the relationship of women and men in the home and in society. As women's status increases, female feticide will decrease, and increasing the status of women will likewise decrease the practice of female feticide.<br />
<br />
==Footnotes==<br />
1. ''The Rise of Christianity'', Rodney Stark, Princeton University Press (1997), p. 128.<br />
<br />
2. "India's imbalance of sexes," in ''The Washington Times'', February 26, 2007.<br />
<br />
3. Taken from "India's imbalance of sexes," in ''The Washington Times'', February 26, 2007.<br />
<br />
4. ''The Rise of Christianity'', Rodney Stark, Princeton University Press (1997), p. 102.<br />
<br />
==Further Reading==<br />
*''The Rise of Christianity'', Rodney Stark, Princeton University Press (1997)<br />
*''May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons'', Elizabeth Bumiller.<br />
*''Woman, An Endangered Species?'', Mary Scaria.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Ethics]]</div>Crawlingpilgrimhttps://orthodoxwiki.org/index.php?title=Female_feticide&diff=48414Female feticide2007-03-24T20:35:45Z<p>Crawlingpilgrim: /* Response to Female Feticide */</p>
<hr />
<div>'''Female feticide''' is the termination of the life of a fetus within the womb on the grounds that its sex is female. '''Female feticide''' is thus the conjunction of two ethical evils: abortion and gender bias. A fetus’s right to life outweighs the parents' rights to wealth, pride, or convenience, whether the fetus is male or female. The term "sex selective abortion" is preferable to the term feticide, since it points to both of the ethical evils inherent in this practice.<br />
<br />
Female feticide has replaced female [[infanticide]] as a means to reduce or eliminate female offspring. In societies where women's status is very low, many female fetuses are rejected. Thus, perhaps 300 million of the total number of aborted female fetuses have been victims of female feticide. This number is based on a predicted ratio of boy-to-girl births and does not take into account the male and female fetuses that are aborted for non-gender-based reasons.<br />
<br />
The practice of female feticide denies the purpose of all human life—[[salvation]] through [[theosis|transformation]] in the image of God. An aborted fetus is denied this transformation in its fullest sense. Therefore, the Orthodox Church, which exists "for the life of the world," has an [[ethics|ethical]] responsibility to denounce the practice of female feticide, to persuade national political and economic leaders to oppose female feticide by understanding and counteracting its economic, societal, and religious causes, and to care for those who suffer from its effects.<br />
<br />
<br />
==History==<br />
Many people groups, both eastern and western, have a history of infanticide. For thousands of years, parents have exterminated baby girls by poisoning, strangling, or burying them alive. This practice decreased in the Greco-Roman world as Christianity flourished&sup1; and is nearly non-existent in the West today.<br />
<br />
In countries such as China and India, the practice of infanticide continued into the 20th century. However, the 1970s saw a dramatic drop in the girl-to-boy ratio in India, when abortion was legalized and ultrasound technology enabled families to determine the sex of their child by the fourth month of pregnancy. By 2005 the ratio slipped to 814 girls for every 1,000 boys, as opposed to the natural rate of 952 girls for every 1,000 boys.<br />
<br />
From the time ultrasound technology was introduced in China, approximately 50 million girl fetuses have been victims of feticide. In India the number is estimated at 43 million. Approximately seven million more are credited to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, and South Korea. Because China and India account for 40% of the world’s population, an imbalance in these two countries has a profound impact on global population statistics.&sup2;<br />
<br />
==Case Study: India&sup3;==<br />
===Traditional Practices of India===<br />
The life of a woman in India is often marked by such disrespect that some feel it is better for the family, and even for the baby girl, that she not be born. Perhaps the greatest factor in this is the practice of dowries. One slogan of the female feticide industry is "better 500 rupees now [for an abortion] rather than 50,000 rupees later [for a dowry]." The first amount equals about $11 (USD), the second about $1,100. India has a longstanding tradition of requiring a wife's family to support her financially in her marriage. This begins with a dowry of extraordinary sums of cash, gold, and goods.<br />
<br />
Defenders of this system point out that a dowry takes the place of inheritance, which some women in India do not receive. However, in many cases the groom's parents take possession of the dowry and do not set any of it aside for the bride's future use. Furthermore, the bride's family's responsibilities extend to further supporting the new family in substantial ways, beyond the initial dowry. Some Indian castes even require a wife’s family to cover her funeral expenses. Some brides have been rejected by the groom's families and even killed because their families did not meet the groom's family's expectations for dowry. All these cultural and financial factors act as disincentives for Indian families to permit their girl babies to be born.<br />
<br />
===Effects of Female Feticide in India===<br />
Female feticide has adversely affected Indian society. 36% of men between the ages of 15 and 45 in the wealthy state of Haryana are unmarried. This prevalence of unmarried men has a destabilizing effect that counteracts the stabilizing and enriching effects of families in a society. The poorer of these unmarried men seek brides from India's economically challenged eastern states, and wives obtained in this way tend to be exploited and in some cases passed on from one husband to the next.<br />
<br />
The sex imbalance in India will have an increasingly destabilizing effect on a consumer of U.S. nuclear and other military technology. India's economy promises to continue growing rapidly in the future, as currently thriving industries such as information technology grow and expand throughout India. It remains to be seen whether India's moral character will keep pace with its economic growth.<br />
<br />
===Who is Responsible?===<br />
This ethical problem goes along with economic growth in many cases. It is the wealthy families that can afford ultrasounds and abortions. If unchecked, the problem will grow in proportion to the Indian economy. <br />
<br />
The parties responsible in this genocide include parents, Indian society, Indian government and religious leaders, worldwide consumers, trade partners and allies of India, and corporations such as GE who supply many ultrasound machines that are used primarily for purposes of feticide.<br />
<br />
==Global Effects of Female Feticide==<br />
All countries where female feticide is practiced are at risk for being caught in a vicious circle. Female feticide leads to low female-to-male ratios, which in turn perpetuates low status of women. Conversely, low status of women leads to more female feticide.<br />
<br />
Rodney Stark, in ''The Rise of Christianity'', points out that one of the ways Christianity revolutionized the status of women in Greco-Roman society was by opposing all infanticide. Stark cites the social scientific work of Guttentag and Secord "linking cross-cultural variations in the status of women to cross-cultural variations in sex ratios. ... To the extent that males outnumber females, women will be enclosed in repressive sex roles as men treat them as 'scarce goods.' Conversely, to the extent that females outnumber males ... women will enjoy relatively greater power and freedom." As the ratio of women to men increased, women came to enjoy higher status in the society as a whole, not only amongst the growing proportion of Greco-Romans who were Christians.&sup4;<br />
<br />
If an increase in ratio of women to men brings higher status to women, a decrease in this ratio risks the opposite effect. Thus, the decrease in the boy-to-girl birth ratio, itself the result of the low status of women in Indian society, risks a sharp further decrease in the status of women from bad to worse. The danger is a vicious circle bringing continually greater female feticide and lowering of the status of women in Indian society.<br />
<br />
All countries where female feticide is practiced are at risk for falling into this vicious circle. Therefore, it is especially urgent for Orthodox Christians to respond to female feticide.<br />
<br />
=Response to Female Feticide=<br />
There are a number of possible responses to the worldwide problem of female feticide. The most fundamental response is to decry the practice of abortion and the circumstances that lead women to resort to it as their best option. The hypocrisy of abortion rights advocates is revealed by their denouncing of the female feticide. It is as if a woman's "rights" to an abortion depend on her motives. If she chooses an abortion for financial, social, or personal reasons, she is supported. However, if her choice is gender-based, it is condemned. The very naming of gender-based abortion as female feticide reveals a double standard. Abortion is supported as a fundamental right, but that right is revoked when it coincides with gender discrimination.<br />
<br />
In India, a proposed nationwide network of orphanages would take in unwanted girl babies. This is a merciful response to the symptom of the problem, but it does not seek to treat the problem itself. Some radiologists and obstetricians in India oppose female feticide vocally, while others oppose it silently.<br />
<br />
What distinguishes female feticide from the problem of abortion in general is a lack of due respect, status, and freedom to women in society. Therefore, the Orthodox Christian response to female feticide must involve changing the way society envisions the relationship of women and men in the home and in society. As women's status increases, female feticide will decrease, and as increasing the status of women will likewise decrease the practice of female feticide.<br />
<br />
==Footnotes==<br />
1. ''The Rise of Christianity'', Rodney Stark, Princeton University Press (1997), p. 128.<br />
<br />
2. "India's imbalance of sexes," in ''The Washington Times'', February 26, 2007.<br />
<br />
3. Taken from "India's imbalance of sexes," in ''The Washington Times'', February 26, 2007.<br />
<br />
4. ''The Rise of Christianity'', Rodney Stark, Princeton University Press (1997), p. 102.<br />
<br />
==Further Reading==<br />
*''The Rise of Christianity'', Rodney Stark, Princeton University Press (1997)<br />
*''May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons'', Elizabeth Bumiller.<br />
*''Woman, An Endangered Species?'', Mary Scaria.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Ethics]]</div>Crawlingpilgrimhttps://orthodoxwiki.org/index.php?title=Female_feticide&diff=48413Female feticide2007-03-24T20:34:55Z<p>Crawlingpilgrim: /* Footnotes */</p>
<hr />
<div>'''Female feticide''' is the termination of the life of a fetus within the womb on the grounds that its sex is female. '''Female feticide''' is thus the conjunction of two ethical evils: abortion and gender bias. A fetus’s right to life outweighs the parents' rights to wealth, pride, or convenience, whether the fetus is male or female. The term "sex selective abortion" is preferable to the term feticide, since it points to both of the ethical evils inherent in this practice.<br />
<br />
Female feticide has replaced female [[infanticide]] as a means to reduce or eliminate female offspring. In societies where women's status is very low, many female fetuses are rejected. Thus, perhaps 300 million of the total number of aborted female fetuses have been victims of female feticide. This number is based on a predicted ratio of boy-to-girl births and does not take into account the male and female fetuses that are aborted for non-gender-based reasons.<br />
<br />
The practice of female feticide denies the purpose of all human life—[[salvation]] through [[theosis|transformation]] in the image of God. An aborted fetus is denied this transformation in its fullest sense. Therefore, the Orthodox Church, which exists "for the life of the world," has an [[ethics|ethical]] responsibility to denounce the practice of female feticide, to persuade national political and economic leaders to oppose female feticide by understanding and counteracting its economic, societal, and religious causes, and to care for those who suffer from its effects.<br />
<br />
<br />
==History==<br />
Many people groups, both eastern and western, have a history of infanticide. For thousands of years, parents have exterminated baby girls by poisoning, strangling, or burying them alive. This practice decreased in the Greco-Roman world as Christianity flourished&sup1; and is nearly non-existent in the West today.<br />
<br />
In countries such as China and India, the practice of infanticide continued into the 20th century. However, the 1970s saw a dramatic drop in the girl-to-boy ratio in India, when abortion was legalized and ultrasound technology enabled families to determine the sex of their child by the fourth month of pregnancy. By 2005 the ratio slipped to 814 girls for every 1,000 boys, as opposed to the natural rate of 952 girls for every 1,000 boys.<br />
<br />
From the time ultrasound technology was introduced in China, approximately 50 million girl fetuses have been victims of feticide. In India the number is estimated at 43 million. Approximately seven million more are credited to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, and South Korea. Because China and India account for 40% of the world’s population, an imbalance in these two countries has a profound impact on global population statistics.&sup2;<br />
<br />
==Case Study: India&sup3;==<br />
===Traditional Practices of India===<br />
The life of a woman in India is often marked by such disrespect that some feel it is better for the family, and even for the baby girl, that she not be born. Perhaps the greatest factor in this is the practice of dowries. One slogan of the female feticide industry is "better 500 rupees now [for an abortion] rather than 50,000 rupees later [for a dowry]." The first amount equals about $11 (USD), the second about $1,100. India has a longstanding tradition of requiring a wife's family to support her financially in her marriage. This begins with a dowry of extraordinary sums of cash, gold, and goods.<br />
<br />
Defenders of this system point out that a dowry takes the place of inheritance, which some women in India do not receive. However, in many cases the groom's parents take possession of the dowry and do not set any of it aside for the bride's future use. Furthermore, the bride's family's responsibilities extend to further supporting the new family in substantial ways, beyond the initial dowry. Some Indian castes even require a wife’s family to cover her funeral expenses. Some brides have been rejected by the groom's families and even killed because their families did not meet the groom's family's expectations for dowry. All these cultural and financial factors act as disincentives for Indian families to permit their girl babies to be born.<br />
<br />
===Effects of Female Feticide in India===<br />
Female feticide has adversely affected Indian society. 36% of men between the ages of 15 and 45 in the wealthy state of Haryana are unmarried. This prevalence of unmarried men has a destabilizing effect that counteracts the stabilizing and enriching effects of families in a society. The poorer of these unmarried men seek brides from India's economically challenged eastern states, and wives obtained in this way tend to be exploited and in some cases passed on from one husband to the next.<br />
<br />
The sex imbalance in India will have an increasingly destabilizing effect on a consumer of U.S. nuclear and other military technology. India's economy promises to continue growing rapidly in the future, as currently thriving industries such as information technology grow and expand throughout India. It remains to be seen whether India's moral character will keep pace with its economic growth.<br />
<br />
===Who is Responsible?===<br />
This ethical problem goes along with economic growth in many cases. It is the wealthy families that can afford ultrasounds and abortions. If unchecked, the problem will grow in proportion to the Indian economy. <br />
<br />
The parties responsible in this genocide include parents, Indian society, Indian government and religious leaders, worldwide consumers, trade partners and allies of India, and corporations such as GE who supply many ultrasound machines that are used primarily for purposes of feticide.<br />
<br />
==Global Effects of Female Feticide==<br />
All countries where female feticide is practiced are at risk for being caught in a vicious circle. Female feticide leads to low female-to-male ratios, which in turn perpetuates low status of women. Conversely, low status of women leads to more female feticide.<br />
<br />
Rodney Stark, in ''The Rise of Christianity'', points out that one of the ways Christianity revolutionized the status of women in Greco-Roman society was by opposing all infanticide. Stark cites the social scientific work of Guttentag and Secord "linking cross-cultural variations in the status of women to cross-cultural variations in sex ratios. ... To the extent that males outnumber females, women will be enclosed in repressive sex roles as men treat them as 'scarce goods.' Conversely, to the extent that females outnumber males ... women will enjoy relatively greater power and freedom." As the ratio of women to men increased, women came to enjoy higher status in the society as a whole, not only amongst the growing proportion of Greco-Romans who were Christians.&sup4;<br />
<br />
If an increase in ratio of women to men brings higher status to women, a decrease in this ratio risks the opposite effect. Thus, the decrease in the boy-to-girl birth ratio, itself the result of the low status of women in Indian society, risks a sharp further decrease in the status of women from bad to worse. The danger is a vicious circle bringing continually greater female feticide and lowering of the status of women in Indian society.<br />
<br />
All countries where female feticide is practiced are at risk for falling into this vicious circle. Therefore, it is especially urgent for Orthodox Christians to respond to female feticide.<br />
<br />
==Response to Female Feticide==<br />
There are a number of possible responses to the worldwide problem of female feticide. The most fundamental response is to decry the practice of abortion and the circumstances that lead women to resort to it as their best option. The hypocrisy of abortion rights advocates is revealed by their denouncing of the female feticide. It is as if a woman's "rights" to an abortion depend on her motives. If she chooses an abortion for financial, social, or personal reasons, she is supported. However, if her choice is gender-based, it is condemned. The very naming of gender-based abortion as female feticide reveals a double standard. Abortion is supported as a fundamental right, but that right is revoked when it coincides with gender discrimination.<br />
<br />
In India, a proposed nationwide network of orphanages would take in unwanted girl babies. This is a merciful response to the symptom of the problem, but it does not seek to treat the problem itself. Some radiologists and obstetricians in India oppose female feticide vocally, while others oppose it silently.<br />
<br />
What distinguishes female feticide from the problem of abortion in general is a lack of due respect, status, and freedom to women in society. Therefore, the Orthodox Christian response to female feticide must involve changing the way society envisions the relationship of women and men in the home and in society. As women's status increases, female feticide will decrease, and as increasing the status of women will likewise decrease the practice of female feticide.<br />
<br />
==Footnotes==<br />
1. ''The Rise of Christianity'', Rodney Stark, Princeton University Press (1997), p. 128.<br />
<br />
2. "India's imbalance of sexes," in ''The Washington Times'', February 26, 2007.<br />
<br />
3. Taken from "India's imbalance of sexes," in ''The Washington Times'', February 26, 2007.<br />
<br />
4. ''The Rise of Christianity'', Rodney Stark, Princeton University Press (1997), p. 102.<br />
<br />
==Further Reading==<br />
*''The Rise of Christianity'', Rodney Stark, Princeton University Press (1997)<br />
*''May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons'', Elizabeth Bumiller.<br />
*''Woman, An Endangered Species?'', Mary Scaria.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Ethics]]</div>Crawlingpilgrimhttps://orthodoxwiki.org/index.php?title=Female_feticide&diff=48412Female feticide2007-03-24T20:33:35Z<p>Crawlingpilgrim: /* Global Effects of Female Feticide */</p>
<hr />
<div>'''Female feticide''' is the termination of the life of a fetus within the womb on the grounds that its sex is female. '''Female feticide''' is thus the conjunction of two ethical evils: abortion and gender bias. A fetus’s right to life outweighs the parents' rights to wealth, pride, or convenience, whether the fetus is male or female. The term "sex selective abortion" is preferable to the term feticide, since it points to both of the ethical evils inherent in this practice.<br />
<br />
Female feticide has replaced female [[infanticide]] as a means to reduce or eliminate female offspring. In societies where women's status is very low, many female fetuses are rejected. Thus, perhaps 300 million of the total number of aborted female fetuses have been victims of female feticide. This number is based on a predicted ratio of boy-to-girl births and does not take into account the male and female fetuses that are aborted for non-gender-based reasons.<br />
<br />
The practice of female feticide denies the purpose of all human life—[[salvation]] through [[theosis|transformation]] in the image of God. An aborted fetus is denied this transformation in its fullest sense. Therefore, the Orthodox Church, which exists "for the life of the world," has an [[ethics|ethical]] responsibility to denounce the practice of female feticide, to persuade national political and economic leaders to oppose female feticide by understanding and counteracting its economic, societal, and religious causes, and to care for those who suffer from its effects.<br />
<br />
<br />
==History==<br />
Many people groups, both eastern and western, have a history of infanticide. For thousands of years, parents have exterminated baby girls by poisoning, strangling, or burying them alive. This practice decreased in the Greco-Roman world as Christianity flourished&sup1; and is nearly non-existent in the West today.<br />
<br />
In countries such as China and India, the practice of infanticide continued into the 20th century. However, the 1970s saw a dramatic drop in the girl-to-boy ratio in India, when abortion was legalized and ultrasound technology enabled families to determine the sex of their child by the fourth month of pregnancy. By 2005 the ratio slipped to 814 girls for every 1,000 boys, as opposed to the natural rate of 952 girls for every 1,000 boys.<br />
<br />
From the time ultrasound technology was introduced in China, approximately 50 million girl fetuses have been victims of feticide. In India the number is estimated at 43 million. Approximately seven million more are credited to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, and South Korea. Because China and India account for 40% of the world’s population, an imbalance in these two countries has a profound impact on global population statistics.&sup2;<br />
<br />
==Case Study: India&sup3;==<br />
===Traditional Practices of India===<br />
The life of a woman in India is often marked by such disrespect that some feel it is better for the family, and even for the baby girl, that she not be born. Perhaps the greatest factor in this is the practice of dowries. One slogan of the female feticide industry is "better 500 rupees now [for an abortion] rather than 50,000 rupees later [for a dowry]." The first amount equals about $11 (USD), the second about $1,100. India has a longstanding tradition of requiring a wife's family to support her financially in her marriage. This begins with a dowry of extraordinary sums of cash, gold, and goods.<br />
<br />
Defenders of this system point out that a dowry takes the place of inheritance, which some women in India do not receive. However, in many cases the groom's parents take possession of the dowry and do not set any of it aside for the bride's future use. Furthermore, the bride's family's responsibilities extend to further supporting the new family in substantial ways, beyond the initial dowry. Some Indian castes even require a wife’s family to cover her funeral expenses. Some brides have been rejected by the groom's families and even killed because their families did not meet the groom's family's expectations for dowry. All these cultural and financial factors act as disincentives for Indian families to permit their girl babies to be born.<br />
<br />
===Effects of Female Feticide in India===<br />
Female feticide has adversely affected Indian society. 36% of men between the ages of 15 and 45 in the wealthy state of Haryana are unmarried. This prevalence of unmarried men has a destabilizing effect that counteracts the stabilizing and enriching effects of families in a society. The poorer of these unmarried men seek brides from India's economically challenged eastern states, and wives obtained in this way tend to be exploited and in some cases passed on from one husband to the next.<br />
<br />
The sex imbalance in India will have an increasingly destabilizing effect on a consumer of U.S. nuclear and other military technology. India's economy promises to continue growing rapidly in the future, as currently thriving industries such as information technology grow and expand throughout India. It remains to be seen whether India's moral character will keep pace with its economic growth.<br />
<br />
===Who is Responsible?===<br />
This ethical problem goes along with economic growth in many cases. It is the wealthy families that can afford ultrasounds and abortions. If unchecked, the problem will grow in proportion to the Indian economy. <br />
<br />
The parties responsible in this genocide include parents, Indian society, Indian government and religious leaders, worldwide consumers, trade partners and allies of India, and corporations such as GE who supply many ultrasound machines that are used primarily for purposes of feticide.<br />
<br />
==Global Effects of Female Feticide==<br />
All countries where female feticide is practiced are at risk for being caught in a vicious circle. Female feticide leads to low female-to-male ratios, which in turn perpetuates low status of women. Conversely, low status of women leads to more female feticide.<br />
<br />
Rodney Stark, in ''The Rise of Christianity'', points out that one of the ways Christianity revolutionized the status of women in Greco-Roman society was by opposing all infanticide. Stark cites the social scientific work of Guttentag and Secord "linking cross-cultural variations in the status of women to cross-cultural variations in sex ratios. ... To the extent that males outnumber females, women will be enclosed in repressive sex roles as men treat them as 'scarce goods.' Conversely, to the extent that females outnumber males ... women will enjoy relatively greater power and freedom." As the ratio of women to men increased, women came to enjoy higher status in the society as a whole, not only amongst the growing proportion of Greco-Romans who were Christians.&sup4;<br />
<br />
If an increase in ratio of women to men brings higher status to women, a decrease in this ratio risks the opposite effect. Thus, the decrease in the boy-to-girl birth ratio, itself the result of the low status of women in Indian society, risks a sharp further decrease in the status of women from bad to worse. The danger is a vicious circle bringing continually greater female feticide and lowering of the status of women in Indian society.<br />
<br />
All countries where female feticide is practiced are at risk for falling into this vicious circle. Therefore, it is especially urgent for Orthodox Christians to respond to female feticide.<br />
<br />
==Response to Female Feticide==<br />
There are a number of possible responses to the worldwide problem of female feticide. The most fundamental response is to decry the practice of abortion and the circumstances that lead women to resort to it as their best option. The hypocrisy of abortion rights advocates is revealed by their denouncing of the female feticide. It is as if a woman's "rights" to an abortion depend on her motives. If she chooses an abortion for financial, social, or personal reasons, she is supported. However, if her choice is gender-based, it is condemned. The very naming of gender-based abortion as female feticide reveals a double standard. Abortion is supported as a fundamental right, but that right is revoked when it coincides with gender discrimination.<br />
<br />
In India, a proposed nationwide network of orphanages would take in unwanted girl babies. This is a merciful response to the symptom of the problem, but it does not seek to treat the problem itself. Some radiologists and obstetricians in India oppose female feticide vocally, while others oppose it silently.<br />
<br />
What distinguishes female feticide from the problem of abortion in general is a lack of due respect, status, and freedom to women in society. Therefore, the Orthodox Christian response to female feticide must involve changing the way society envisions the relationship of women and men in the home and in society. As women's status increases, female feticide will decrease, and as increasing the status of women will likewise decrease the practice of female feticide.<br />
<br />
==Footnotes==<br />
1. ''The Rise of Christianity'', Rodney Stark, Princeton University Press (1997), p. 128.<br />
2. "India's imbalance of sexes," in ''The Washington Times'', February 26, 2007.<br />
3. Taken from "India's imbalance of sexes," in ''The Washington Times'', February 26, 2007.<br />
4. ''The Rise of Christianity'', Rodney Stark, Princeton University Press (1997), p. 102.<br />
==Further Reading==<br />
*''The Rise of Christianity'', Rodney Stark, Princeton University Press (1997)<br />
*''May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons'', Elizabeth Bumiller.<br />
*''Woman, An Endangered Species?'', Mary Scaria.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Ethics]]</div>Crawlingpilgrimhttps://orthodoxwiki.org/index.php?title=Female_feticide&diff=48411Female feticide2007-03-24T20:31:55Z<p>Crawlingpilgrim: </p>
<hr />
<div>'''Female feticide''' is the termination of the life of a fetus within the womb on the grounds that its sex is female. '''Female feticide''' is thus the conjunction of two ethical evils: abortion and gender bias. A fetus’s right to life outweighs the parents' rights to wealth, pride, or convenience, whether the fetus is male or female. The term "sex selective abortion" is preferable to the term feticide, since it points to both of the ethical evils inherent in this practice.<br />
<br />
Female feticide has replaced female [[infanticide]] as a means to reduce or eliminate female offspring. In societies where women's status is very low, many female fetuses are rejected. Thus, perhaps 300 million of the total number of aborted female fetuses have been victims of female feticide. This number is based on a predicted ratio of boy-to-girl births and does not take into account the male and female fetuses that are aborted for non-gender-based reasons.<br />
<br />
The practice of female feticide denies the purpose of all human life—[[salvation]] through [[theosis|transformation]] in the image of God. An aborted fetus is denied this transformation in its fullest sense. Therefore, the Orthodox Church, which exists "for the life of the world," has an [[ethics|ethical]] responsibility to denounce the practice of female feticide, to persuade national political and economic leaders to oppose female feticide by understanding and counteracting its economic, societal, and religious causes, and to care for those who suffer from its effects.<br />
<br />
<br />
==History==<br />
Many people groups, both eastern and western, have a history of infanticide. For thousands of years, parents have exterminated baby girls by poisoning, strangling, or burying them alive. This practice decreased in the Greco-Roman world as Christianity flourished&sup1; and is nearly non-existent in the West today.<br />
<br />
In countries such as China and India, the practice of infanticide continued into the 20th century. However, the 1970s saw a dramatic drop in the girl-to-boy ratio in India, when abortion was legalized and ultrasound technology enabled families to determine the sex of their child by the fourth month of pregnancy. By 2005 the ratio slipped to 814 girls for every 1,000 boys, as opposed to the natural rate of 952 girls for every 1,000 boys.<br />
<br />
From the time ultrasound technology was introduced in China, approximately 50 million girl fetuses have been victims of feticide. In India the number is estimated at 43 million. Approximately seven million more are credited to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, and South Korea. Because China and India account for 40% of the world’s population, an imbalance in these two countries has a profound impact on global population statistics.&sup2;<br />
<br />
==Case Study: India&sup3;==<br />
===Traditional Practices of India===<br />
The life of a woman in India is often marked by such disrespect that some feel it is better for the family, and even for the baby girl, that she not be born. Perhaps the greatest factor in this is the practice of dowries. One slogan of the female feticide industry is "better 500 rupees now [for an abortion] rather than 50,000 rupees later [for a dowry]." The first amount equals about $11 (USD), the second about $1,100. India has a longstanding tradition of requiring a wife's family to support her financially in her marriage. This begins with a dowry of extraordinary sums of cash, gold, and goods.<br />
<br />
Defenders of this system point out that a dowry takes the place of inheritance, which some women in India do not receive. However, in many cases the groom's parents take possession of the dowry and do not set any of it aside for the bride's future use. Furthermore, the bride's family's responsibilities extend to further supporting the new family in substantial ways, beyond the initial dowry. Some Indian castes even require a wife’s family to cover her funeral expenses. Some brides have been rejected by the groom's families and even killed because their families did not meet the groom's family's expectations for dowry. All these cultural and financial factors act as disincentives for Indian families to permit their girl babies to be born.<br />
<br />
===Effects of Female Feticide in India===<br />
Female feticide has adversely affected Indian society. 36% of men between the ages of 15 and 45 in the wealthy state of Haryana are unmarried. This prevalence of unmarried men has a destabilizing effect that counteracts the stabilizing and enriching effects of families in a society. The poorer of these unmarried men seek brides from India's economically challenged eastern states, and wives obtained in this way tend to be exploited and in some cases passed on from one husband to the next.<br />
<br />
The sex imbalance in India will have an increasingly destabilizing effect on a consumer of U.S. nuclear and other military technology. India's economy promises to continue growing rapidly in the future, as currently thriving industries such as information technology grow and expand throughout India. It remains to be seen whether India's moral character will keep pace with its economic growth.<br />
<br />
===Who is Responsible?===<br />
This ethical problem goes along with economic growth in many cases. It is the wealthy families that can afford ultrasounds and abortions. If unchecked, the problem will grow in proportion to the Indian economy. <br />
<br />
The parties responsible in this genocide include parents, Indian society, Indian government and religious leaders, worldwide consumers, trade partners and allies of India, and corporations such as GE who supply many ultrasound machines that are used primarily for purposes of feticide.<br />
<br />
==Global Effects of Female Feticide==<br />
All countries where female feticide is practiced are at risk for being caught in a vicious circle. Female feticide leads to low female-to-male ratios, which in turn perpetuates low status of women. Conversely, low status of women leads to more female feticide.<br />
<br />
Rodney Stark, in ''The Rise of Christianity'', points out that one of the ways Christianity revolutionized the status of women in Greco-Roman society was by opposing all infanticide. Stark cites the social scientific work of Guttentag and Secord "linking cross-cultural variations in the status of women to cross-cultural variations in sex ratios. ... To the extent that males outnumber females, women will be enclosed in repressive sex roles as men treat them as 'scarce goods.' Conversely, to the extent that females outnumber males ... women will enjoy relatively greater power and freedom." As the ratio of women to men increased, women came to enjoy higher status in the society as a whole, not only amongst the growing proportion of Greco-Romans who were Christians.&sup4;<br />
<br />
If an increase in ratio of women to men brings higher status to women, a decrease in this ratio risks the opposite effect. Thus, the decrease in the boy-to-girl birth ratio, itself the result of the low status of women in Indian society, risks a sharp further decrease in the status of women from bad to worse. The danger is a vicious circle bringing continually greater female feticide and lowering of the status of women in Indian society.<br />
<br />
All countries where female feticide is practiced are at risk for falling into this vicious circle. Therefore, it is especially urgent for Orthodox Christians to respond to female feticide.<br />
<br />
----<br />
<br />
==Response to Female Feticide==<br />
There are a number of possible responses to the worldwide problem of female feticide. The most fundamental response is to decry the practice of abortion and the circumstances that lead women to resort to it as their best option. The hypocrisy of abortion rights advocates is revealed by their denouncing of the female feticide. It is as if a woman's "rights" to an abortion depend on her motives. If she chooses an abortion for financial, social, or personal reasons, she is supported. However, if her choice is gender-based, it is condemned. The very naming of gender-based abortion as female feticide reveals a double standard. Abortion is supported as a fundamental right, but that right is revoked when it coincides with gender discrimination.<br />
<br />
In India, a proposed nationwide network of orphanages would take in unwanted girl babies. This is a merciful response to the symptom of the problem, but it does not seek to treat the problem itself. Some radiologists and obstetricians in India oppose female feticide vocally, while others oppose it silently.<br />
<br />
What distinguishes female feticide from the problem of abortion in general is a lack of due respect, status, and freedom to women in society. Therefore, the Orthodox Christian response to female feticide must involve changing the way society envisions the relationship of women and men in the home and in society. As women's status increases, female feticide will decrease, and as increasing the status of women will likewise decrease the practice of female feticide.<br />
<br />
==Footnotes==<br />
1. ''The Rise of Christianity'', Rodney Stark, Princeton University Press (1997), p. 128.<br />
2. "India's imbalance of sexes," in ''The Washington Times'', February 26, 2007.<br />
3. Taken from "India's imbalance of sexes," in ''The Washington Times'', February 26, 2007.<br />
4. ''The Rise of Christianity'', Rodney Stark, Princeton University Press (1997), p. 102.<br />
==Further Reading==<br />
*''The Rise of Christianity'', Rodney Stark, Princeton University Press (1997)<br />
*''May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons'', Elizabeth Bumiller.<br />
*''Woman, An Endangered Species?'', Mary Scaria.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Ethics]]</div>Crawlingpilgrimhttps://orthodoxwiki.org/index.php?title=Female_feticide&diff=48408Female feticide2007-03-24T19:58:13Z<p>Crawlingpilgrim: </p>
<hr />
<div>'''Female feticide''' is the termination of the life of a fetus within the womb on the grounds that its sex is female. '''Female feticide''' is thus the conjunction of two ethical evils: abortion and gender bias. A fetus’s right to life outweighs the parents' rights to wealth, pride, or convenience, whether the fetus is male or female. The term "sex selective abortion" is preferable to the term feticide, since it points to both of the ethical evils of this practice.<br />
<br />
Female feticide has replaced female [[infanticide]] as a means to reduce or eliminate female offspring. In societies where women's status is very low, many female fetuses are rejected. Thus, perhaps 300 million of the total number of aborted female fetuses have been victims of female feticide. This number is based on a predicted ratio of boy-to-girl births and does not take into account the male and female fetuses that are aborted for non-gender-based reasons.<br />
<br />
The practice of female feticide denies the purpose of all human life—[[salvation]] through [[theosis|transformation]] in the image of God. An aborted fetus is denied this transformation in its fullest sense. Therefore, the Orthodox Church, which exists "for the life of the world," has an [[ethics|ethical]] responsibility to denounce the practice of female feticide, to persuade national political and economic leaders to oppose female feticide by understanding and counteracting its economic, societal, and religious causes, and to care for those who suffer from its effects.<br />
<br />
<br />
==History==<br />
Many peoples, both eastern and western, have a history of infanticide. For thousands of years, parents have exterminated baby girls by poisoning, strangling, or burying them alive. This practice decreased in the Greco-Roman world as Christianity flourished and is nearly non-existent in the West today.<br />
<br />
In countries such as China and India, the practice of infanticide continued into the 20th century. However, the 1970s saw a dramatic drop in the girl-to-boy ratio in India, when abortion was legalized and ultrasound technology enabled families to determine the sex of their child by the fourth month of pregnancy. By 2005 the ratio slipped to 814 girls for every 1,000 boys, as opposed to the natural rate of 952 girls for every 1,000 boys.<br />
<br />
From the time ultrasound technology was introduced in China, approximately 50 million girl fetuses have been victims of feticide. In India the number is estimated at 43 million. Approximately seven million more are credited to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, and South Korea. Because China and India account for 40% of the world’s population, an imbalance in these two countries has a profound impact on global population statistics.&sup1;<br />
<br />
==Case Study: India==<br />
===Traditional Practices of India===<br />
The life of a woman in India is often marked by such disrespect that some feel it is better for the family, and even for the baby girl, that she not be born. Perhaps the greatest factor in this is the practice of dowries. One slogan of the female feticide industry is "better 500 rupees now [for an abortion] rather than 50,000 rupees later [for a dowry]." The first amount equals about $11 (USD), the second about $1,100. India has a longstanding tradition of requiring a wife's family to support her financially in her marriage. This begins with a dowry of extraordinary sums of cash, gold, and goods.<br />
<br />
Defenders of this system point out that a dowry takes the place of inheritance, which some women in India do not receive. However, in many cases the groom's parents take possession of the dowry and do not set any of it aside for the bride's future use. Furthermore, the bride's family's responsibilities extend to further supporting the new family in substantial ways, beyond the initial dowry. Some Indian castes even require a wife’s family to cover her funeral expenses. Some brides have been rejected by the groom's families and even killed because their families did not meet the groom's family's expectations for dowry. All these cultural factors act as disincentives for Indian families to permit their girl babies to be born.<br />
<br />
==Who is Responsible?==<br />
This ethical problem goes along with economic growth in many cases. It is the wealthy families that can afford ultrasounds and abortions. If unchecked, the problem will grow in proportion to the Indian economy. <br />
<br />
The parties responsible in this genocide include parents, Indian society, Indian government and religious leaders, worldwide consumers, trade partners and allies of India, and corporations such as GE who supply many ultrasound machines that are used primarily for purposes of feticide.<br />
<br />
==Effects of Female Feticide==<br />
The problem of female feticide has had results in India and throughout the world. 36% of men between the ages of 15 and 45 in the wealthy state of Haryana are unmarried. This prevalence of unmarried men has a destabilizing effect that counteracts the stabilizing and enriching effects of families in a society. The poorer of these unmarried men seek brides from India's economically challenged eastern states, and wives obtained in this way tend to be exploited and in some cases passed on from one husband to the next. <br />
<br />
The sex imbalance in India will have an increasingly destabilizing effect on a consumer of U.S. nuclear and other military technology. India's economy promises to continue growing rapidly in the future, as currently thriving industries such as information technology grow and expand throughout India. It remains to be seen whether India's moral character will keep pace with its economic growth.<br />
<br />
Rodney Stark, in ''The Rise of Christianity'', points out that one of the ways Christianity revolutionized the status of women in Greco-Roman society was by opposing all infanticide. Stark cites the social scientific work of Guttentag and Secord "linking cross-cultural variations in the status of women to cross-cultural variations in sex ratios. ... To the extent that males outnumber females, women will be enclosed in repressive sex roles as men treat them as 'scarce goods.' Conversely, to the extent that males outnumber females ... women will enjoy relatively greater power and freedom." As the ratio of women to men increased, women came to enjoy higher status in the society as a whole, not only amongst the growing proportion of Greco-Romans who were Christians.<br />
<br />
If an increase in ratio of women to men brings higher status to women, a decrease in this ratio risks the opposite effect. Thus, the decrease in the boy-to-girl birth ratio, itself the result of the low status of women in Indian society, risks a sharp further decrease in the status of women from bad to worse. The danger is a vicious circle bringing continually greater female feticide and lowering of the status of women in Indian society.<br />
<br />
It seems that China and the other countries where female feticide is practiced are likewise at risk for falling into this vicious circle. This possibility makes it even more urgent for Orthodox Christians to respond to female feticide.<br />
<br />
==Response to Female Feticide==<br />
In India, a proposed nationwide network of orphanages would take in unwanted girl babies. This is a merciful response to the symptom of the problem, but it does not seek to treat the problem itself. Some radiologists and obstetricians in India oppose female feticide vocally, while others oppose it silently.<br />
<br />
There are a number of possible responses to the worldwide problem of female feticide. The most fundamental response is to decry the practice of abortion and the circumstances that lead women to resort to it as their best option. The hypocrisy of abortion rights advocates is revealed by their denouncing of the female feticide. It is as if a woman's "rights" to an abortion depend on her motives. If she chooses an abortion for financial, social, or personal reasons, she is supported. However, if her choice is gender-based, it is condemned. The very naming of gender-based abortion as female feticide reveals a double standard. Abortion is supported as a fundamental right, but that right is revoked when it coincides with gender discrimination.<br />
<br />
What distinguishes female feticide from the problem of abortion in general is a lack of due respect, status, and freedom to women in Indian society. Therefore, the treatment of the problem of gender-specific abortion, or female feticide, must confront changing of the way society envisions the relationship of women and men in the home and in society. As women's status increases, female feticide will decrease, and vice versa.<br />
<br />
==Footnotes==<br />
1. "India's imbalance of sexes," ''The Washington Times'', February 26, 2007.<br />
==Further Reading==<br />
*''May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons'', Elizabeth Bumiller.<br />
*''Woman, An Endangered Species?'', Mary Scaria.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Ethics]]</div>Crawlingpilgrimhttps://orthodoxwiki.org/index.php?title=Female_feticide&diff=48407Female feticide2007-03-24T19:32:37Z<p>Crawlingpilgrim: </p>
<hr />
<div>'''Female feticide''' is the termination of the life of a fetus within the womb on the grounds that its sex is female. '''Female feticide''' is thus the conjunction of two ethical evils: abortion and gender bias. A fetus’s right to life outweighs the parents' rights to wealth, pride, or convenience, whether the fetus is male or female. Gender-based [[abortion]], whether of a male or a female fetus has also been termed "sex selective abortion".<br />
<br />
Female feticide has replaced female [[infanticide]] as a means to reduce or eliminate female offspring. In societies where women's status is very low, many female fetuses are rejected. Thus, perhaps 300 million of the total number of aborted female fetuses have been victims of female feticide. This number is based on a predicted ratio of boy-to-girl births and does not take into account the male and female fetuses that are aborted for non-gender-based reasons.<br />
<br />
The practice of female feticide denies the purpose of all human life—[[salvation]] through [[theosis|transformation]] in the image of God. An aborted fetus is denied this transformation in its fullest sense. Therefore, the Orthodox Church, which exists "for the life of the world," has an [[ethics|ethical]] responsibility to denounce the practice of female feticide, to persuade national political and economic leaders to oppose female feticide by understanding and counteracting its economic, societal, and religious causes, and to care for those who suffer from its effects.<br />
<br />
<br />
==History==<br />
Many peoples, both eastern and western, have a history of infanticide. For thousands of years, parents have exterminated baby girls by poisoning, strangling, or burying them alive. This practice decreased in the Greco-Roman world as Christianity flourished and is nearly non-existent in the West today.<br />
<br />
In countries such as China and India, the practice of infanticide continued into the 20th century. However, the 1970s saw a dramatic drop in the girl-to-boy ratio in India, when abortion was legalized and ultrasound technology enabled families to determine the sex of their child by the fourth month of pregnancy. By 2005 the ratio slipped to 814 girls for every 1,000 boys, as opposed to the natural rate of 952 girls for every 1,000 boys.<br />
<br />
From the time ultrasound technology was introduced in China, approximately 50 million girl fetuses have been victims of feticide. In India the number is estimated at 43 million. Approximately seven million more are credited to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, and South Korea. Because China and India account for 40% of the world’s population, an imbalance in these two countries has a profound impact on global population statistics.<br />
<br />
==Case Study: India==<br />
===Traditional Practices of India===<br />
The life of a woman in India is often marked by such disrespect that some feel it is better for the family, and even for the baby girl, that she not be born. Perhaps the greatest factor in this is the practice of dowries. One slogan of the female feticide industry is "better 500 rupees now [for an abortion] rather than 50,000 rupees later [for a dowry]." The first amount equals about $11 (USD), the second about $1,100. India has a longstanding tradition of requiring a wife's family to support her financially in her marriage. This begins with a dowry of extraordinary sums of cash, gold, and goods.<br />
<br />
Defenders of this system point out that a dowry takes the place of inheritance, which some women in India do not receive. However, in many cases the groom's parents take possession of the dowry and do not set any of it aside for the bride's future use. Furthermore, the bride's family's responsibilities extend to further supporting the new family in substantial ways, beyond the initial dowry. Some Indian castes even require a wife’s family to cover her funeral expenses. Some brides have been rejected by the groom's families and even killed because their families did not meet the groom's family's expectations for dowry. All these cultural factors act as disincentives for Indian families to permit their girl babies to be born.<br />
<br />
==Who is Responsible?==<br />
This ethical problem goes along with economic growth in many cases. It is the wealthy families that can afford ultrasounds and abortions. If unchecked, the problem will grow in proportion to the Indian economy. <br />
<br />
The parties responsible in this genocide include parents, Indian society, Indian government and religious leaders, worldwide consumers, trade partners and allies of India, and corporations such as GE who supply many ultrasound machines that are used primarily for purposes of feticide.<br />
<br />
==Effects of Female Feticide==<br />
The problem of female feticide has had results in India and throughout the world. 36% of men between the ages of 15 and 45 in the wealthy state of Haryana are unmarried. This prevalence of unmarried men has a destabilizing effect that counteracts the stabilizing and enriching effects of families in a society. The poorer of these unmarried men seek brides from India's economically challenged eastern states, and wives obtained in this way tend to be exploited and in some cases passed on from one husband to the next. <br />
<br />
The sex imbalance in India will have an increasingly destabilizing effect on a consumer of U.S. nuclear and other military technology. India's economy promises to continue growing rapidly in the future, as currently thriving industries such as information technology grow and expand throughout India. It remains to be seen whether India's moral character will keep pace with its economic growth.<br />
<br />
Rodney Stark, in ''The Rise of Christianity'', points out that one of the ways Christianity revolutionized the status of women in Greco-Roman society was by opposing all infanticide. Stark cites the social scientific work of Guttentag and Secord "linking cross-cultural variations in the status of women to cross-cultural variations in sex ratios. ... To the extent that males outnumber females, women will be enclosed in repressive sex roles as men treat them as 'scarce goods.' Conversely, to the extent that males outnumber females ... women will enjoy relatively greater power and freedom." As the ratio of women to men increased, women came to enjoy higher status in the society as a whole, not only amongst the growing proportion of Greco-Romans who were Christians.<br />
<br />
If an increase in ratio of women to men brings higher status to women, a decrease in this ratio risks the opposite effect. Thus, the decrease in the boy-to-girl birth ratio, itself the result of the low status of women in Indian society, risks a sharp further decrease in the status of women from bad to worse. The danger is a vicious circle bringing continually greater female feticide and lowering of the status of women in Indian society.<br />
<br />
It seems that China and the other countries where female feticide is practiced are likewise at risk for falling into this vicious circle. This possibility makes it even more urgent for Orthodox Christians to respond to female feticide.<br />
<br />
==Response to Female Feticide==<br />
In India, a proposed nationwide network of orphanages would take in unwanted girl babies. This is a merciful response to the symptom of the problem, but it does not seek to treat the problem itself. Some radiologists and obstetricians in India oppose female feticide vocally, while others oppose it silently.<br />
<br />
There are a number of possible responses to the worldwide problem of female feticide. The most fundamental response is to decry the practice of abortion and the circumstances that lead women to resort to it as their best option. The hypocrisy of abortion rights advocates is revealed by their denouncing of the female feticide. It is as if a woman's "rights" to an abortion depend on her motives. If she chooses an abortion for financial, social, or personal reasons, she is supported. However, if her choice is gender-based, it is condemned. The very naming of gender-based abortion as female feticide reveals a double standard. Abortion is supported as a fundamental right, but that right is revoked when it coincides with gender discrimination.<br />
<br />
What distinguishes female feticide from the problem of abortion in general is a lack of due respect, status, and freedom to women in Indian society. Therefore, the treatment of the problem of gender-specific abortion, or female feticide, must confront changing of the way society envisions the relationship of women and men in the home and in society. As women's status increases, female feticide will decrease, and vice versa.<br />
<br />
==Further Reading==<br />
*''May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons'', Elizabeth Bumiller.<br />
*''Woman, An Endangered Species?'', Mary Scaria.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Ethics]]</div>Crawlingpilgrimhttps://orthodoxwiki.org/index.php?title=Female_feticide&diff=46527Female feticide2007-03-05T05:03:22Z<p>Crawlingpilgrim: New page: Introduction Female feticide is the termination of pregnancy on the basis of the female sex of a fetus. Thus, for Orthodox Christian ethicists, female feticide is gender-based abortion a...</p>
<hr />
<div>Introduction<br />
<br />
Female feticide is the termination of pregnancy on the basis of the female sex of a fetus. Thus, for Orthodox Christian ethicists, female feticide is gender-based abortion and, as such, is seen as an evil. A fetus’s right to life outweighs the parents’ rights to wealth, pride, or convenience, whether the fetus is male or female. <br />
This growing problem has replaced female infanticide as a means to avoid having unwanted female offspring. In the modern era, one might be surprised to find that such a barbaric practice still exists. However, in societies where women’s status is very low, some female fetuses are rejected as “better off dead.” Thus, perhaps 300 million of the female fetuses that never get born are victims of female feticide. (This number is based on a predicted ratio of boy-to-girl births, and does not take into account the male and female fetuses that are aborted for non-gender based reasons.)<br />
The practice of female feticide denies the purpose of all human life—l salvation through transformation in the image of God. An aborted fetus is denied this transformation in its fullest sense. Therefore, the Orthodox Church, which exists “for the life of the world,” has an ethical responsibility to respond to the economic, societal, and religious causes of female feticide and to care for those who suffer from its effects.<br />
<br />
<br />
History<br />
<br />
Many nations, East and West, have a history of infanticide. For thousands of years, parents have exterminated baby girls by poisoning, strangling, or burying them alive. This practice decreased in the Greco-Roman world, as Christianity flourished, and is nearly non-existent in the West, today.<br />
In countries such as China and India, the practice of infanticide had continued into the 20th century. However, the 1970’s saw a dramatic drop in girl-to-boy ratio in India, when abortion was legalized and ultrasound technology enabled families to determine the sex of their child by the fourth month of pregnancy. By 2005 the ratio slipped to 814 girls for every 1,000 boys, as opposed to the natural rate of 952 girls for every 1,000 boys.<br />
<br />
<br />
Current Global Status of Female Feticide<br />
<br />
In China, fifty million girl fetuses have been victims of feticide. In India the number is estimated at forty-three. Approximately seven million more are credited to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, and South Korea. As China and India account for 40% of the world’s population, an imbalance in these two countries affects the entire world.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
CASE STUDY—INDIA<br />
<br />
<br />
Traditional Practices of India<br />
<br />
The life of a woman in India is often marked by such disrespect that some feel it is better for the family, and even for the baby girl, that she not be born. Perhaps the greatest factor in this is the practice of dowries. One slogan of the female feticide industry is “‘better 500 rupees now [for an abortion] rather than 50,000 rupees later [for a dowry]’. The first amount is about $11; the second is $1,100.” India has a longstanding tradition of requiring a wife’s family to support her financially, in her marriage. This begins with a dowry of extraordinary sums of cash, gold, and goods.<br />
Defenders of this system point out that a dowry takes the place of inheritance, which some women in India do not receive. However, in many cases the groom’s parents take possession of the dowry and do not set any of it aside for the bride’s future use. Furthermore, the bride’s family’s responsibilities extend to further supporting the new family in substantial ways, beyond the initial dowry. Some Indian castes even require a wife’s family to cover her funeral expenses. Some brides have been rejected by the groom’s families and even killed, because their families did not meet the groom’s family’s expectations for dowry. All these cultural factors act as disincentives for Indian families to permit their girl babies to be born.<br />
<br />
<br />
Who is Responsible?<br />
<br />
This ethical problem goes along with economic growth. It is the wealthy families that can afford ultrasounds and abortions. If unchecked, the problem will grow in proportion to the Indian economy. <br />
The parties responsible in this genocide include parents, Indian society, Indian government and religious leaders, worldwide consumers, trade partners, and allies of India, and corporations such as GE who supply many ultrasound machines that are used primarily for purposes of feticide.<br />
<br />
<br />
Effects of Female Feticide<br />
<br />
The problem of female feticide has results in Indian and throughout the world. Thirty-six percent of men between 15-45 in the wealthy state of Haryana are unmarried. The prevalence of unmarried men has a destabilizing effect that counteracts the stabilizing and enriching effects of families in a society. The poorer of these unmarried men seek brides from India’s economically challenged eastern states, and wives obtained in this way tend to be exploited and in some cases passed on from one husband to the next. sex trafficking,<br />
The sex imbalance in India will have an increasingly destabilizing effect on a consumer of U.S. nuclear and other military technology. India’s economy promises to continue growing rapidly in the future, as currently thriving industries such as information technology grow and expand throughout India. It remains to be seen whether India’s moral character will keep pace with its economic growth.<br />
Rodney Stark, in The Rise of Christianity, points out that one of the ways Christianity revolutionized the status of women in Greco-Roman society was by opposing all infanticide. Stark cites the social scientific work of Guttentag and Secord, “linking cross-cultural variations in the status of women to cross-cultural variations in sex ratios. […] To the extent that males outnumber females, women will be enclosed in repressive sex roles as men treat them as ‘scarce goods.’ Conversely, to the extent that males outnumber females… women will enjoy relatively greater power and freedom.” As the ratio of women to men increased, women came to enjoy higher status in the society as a whole, not only amongst the growing proportion of Greco-Romans who were Christians.<br />
If an increase in ratio of women to men brings higher status to women, a decrease in this ratio risks the opposite effect. Thus, the decrease in the boy-to-girl birth ratio, itself the result of the low status of women in Indian society, risks a sharp further decrease in the status of women from bad to worse. The danger is a vicious cycle bringing continually greater female feticide and lowering of the status of women in Indian society.<br />
It seems that China and the other countries where female feticide is practiced are likewise at risk for falling into this vicious cycle. The possibility of this vicious cycle makes it even more urgent for Orthodox Christians to respond to female feticide.<br />
<br />
<br />
Response to Female Feticide<br />
<br />
In India, a proposed nationwide network of orphanages would take in unwanted girl babies. This is a merciful response to the symptom of the problem, but it does not seek to treat the problem. <br />
Some radiologists and obstetricians in India oppose female feticide vocally, while others oppose it silently.<br />
There are a number of possible responses to the worldwide problem of female feticide. The most fundamental response is to decry the practice of abortion and the circumstances that lead women to resort to it as their best option. The hypocrisy of abortion rights advocates is revealed by their denouncing of the female feticide. It is as if a woman’s “rights” to an abortion depend on her motives. If she chooses an abortion for financial, social, or personal reasons, she is supported. However, if her choice is gender-based, it is condemned. The very naming of gender-based abortion as female feticide, reveals a double standard. Abortion is supported as a fundamental right, but that right is revoked when it coincides with gender-discrimination.<br />
What distinguishes female feticide from the problem of abortion in general is a lack of due respect, status, and freedom to women in Indian society. Therefore, the treatment of the problem of gender-specific abortion, or female feticide, must confront changing of the way society envisions the relationship of women and men in the home, and in society. As women’s status increases, female feticide will decrease, and vice versa.<br />
<br />
<br />
Further Reading<br />
<br />
May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons, Elizabeth Bumiller<br />
Woman, An Endangered Species?, Mary Scaria</div>Crawlingpilgrimhttps://orthodoxwiki.org/index.php?title=Ethics&diff=46526Ethics2007-03-05T02:46:40Z<p>Crawlingpilgrim: </p>
<hr />
<div>'''Ethics''' is the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary definition. Ethics as a separate discipline cannot be distinguished in the tradition of the Church. In recent times, however, the dialogue between Orthodoxy and the modern world has led to several works on ethics by Orthodox theologians such as Fr. Stanley Harakas, Georgios Mantzarides, [[Christos Yannaras]], and [[Vigen Guroian]]. They approach Orthodox ethics from the perspective that ethical issues are addressed throughout the life of the Church. [[Scripture]], [[worship]], [[patristics|patristic]] writings, and [[Canons (law)|canon law]] are examples of loci of ethical teaching in the life of the Orthodox Church. <br />
<br />
The Orthodox approach to ethics is [[Soteriology|soteriological]], i.e., ethics is understood from the perspective that salvation is the ultimate goal of man. Since in the Orthodox understanding salvation is intrinsically connected with [[Christology]] and the doctrine of the [[Trinity]], the starting point of an Orthodox approach to ethics is the Trinitarian God. It is in God and in the relationships among the persons of the Holy Trinity that we find our goals as human beings, as individual human beings and members of a community, e.g., family, church, society.<br />
<br />
Just as Orthodox [[anthropology]] defines man in terms of relationships (with God, with other human beings, with the rest of creation), Orthodox ethics takes place in the context of relationships within a community. Since the 'model community' is that of the Holy Trinity and relationships within the Trinity are determined by the divine Love, the ultimate ethical norm in Orthodoxy is love. Love as an ethical norm finds satisfactory rationale only within the framework of the Christian faith and the experience of the Holy Trinity. The love that we express in our relationships and which forms the basis of our ethical judgment is a limited expression, due to our limitations as created beings, of Trinitarian love.<br />
<br />
The expression of love in our daily lives forms the moral life and the ethics of the Orthodox faithful. Once again, this moral life is based on anthropology and soteriology: for the Orthodox, moral life is growth in the likeness of God; the transfiguration of our life known as theosis. Part of this transfiguration is, according to Fr. Stanley Harakas, the doing of good, being moral and developing a stable character. Thus, moral life is at the same time a struggle against evil, sin, and fallenness, and an active effort towards the good. <br />
<br />
==Ethics in Scripture==<br />
A representative example of Scriptural ethical teaching is [[Gospel of Matthew|Matthew]] 5:38-39: "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, 'Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.'" The evaluation of this statement in the context of Orthodox ethics is once again done from a soteriological perspective. The truth of [[Christ]]'s statement can be seen in the popular experience that violence begets more violence. Therefore, the statement constitutes a ground rule for our behavior. However, if turning the other cheek is detrimental to the other's salvation (e.g., by reinforcing a pattern of violence) then it may not be the appropriate course of action. Other common scriptural sources of ethical teaching include the [[Decalogue]] and the [[Sermon on the Mount]].<br />
<br />
==Ethics in the [[Sacraments]]==<br />
The primary locus of transfiguration in the Orthodox Church is the [[Liturgy]]. It is in the Liturgy that we come to the fullest experience of God. St. [[Gregory Palamas]] affirmed that knowledge of God is intrinsically moral and transformational. One "cannot experience God in purity, unless one purify oneself through virtue" (St. Gregory Palamas, ''Triads''). We also see in the content of the liturgical petitions and [[priest]]ly prayers certain ethical precepts, such as peace, charity, and forgiveness. The anaphora of St. [[Basil the Great|Basil]] also shows us a number of ethical precepts which should guide our lives: "Remember, Lord, those living in [[chastity]] and godliness, in [[asceticism]] and holiness of life. [...] preserve their [[marriage]]s in peace and harmony; nurture the infants; instruct the youth; strengthen the aged; give courage to the faint hearted; reunite those separated. [...] defend the widows; protect the orphans; liberate the captives; heal the sick."<br />
<br />
The Liturgy, however, is not the only locus of ethical instruction among the services. In [[baptism]] we reject Satan and place ourselves on God's side. The prayers indicate that a life in Christ is expected to have an ethical dimension ("that s/he may walk in the paths of your commandments"). In the marriage service, the prayers mention giving to those in need mutual obedience. Similar examples can be drawn from other sacraments and services.<br />
<br />
==Ethics in Patristic Writings==<br />
Patristic examples of ethical exhortations abound. St. [[John Chrysostom]] concludes most of his [[homily|homilies]] with such considerations. For example, ''Homily 22'' on the [[Gospel]] of St. [[Apostle John|John]] says, "it is impossible, though we perform ten thousand other good deeds, to enter the portals of the Kingdom without alms-doing." In ''Homily 60'' he concludes, "Considering all these things, and how much good we shall work both to those within the prison, and to ourselves, by being continually mixed up with them, let us there spend the time we used to spend in the market-place." St. Basil, in his ''Letter 42'', to Chilo, his [[disciple]], gives this advice: "Among all, with whom you come in contact, be in all things a giver of no offence, cheerful, 'loving as a brother,' pleasant, humble-minded, never missing the mark of hospitality through extravagance of meats, but always content with what is at hand." These are only examples of the teachings which can be found in the writings of the [[saint]]s, both in the early years of the Church and in our times.<br />
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==Ethics in [[Canon Law]]==<br />
Canon law also shows a number of examples for [[clergy]] and [[laity]] alike. The apostolic canon number 27 says, "If a [[bishop]], [[presbyter]], or [[deacon]] shall strike any of the faithful who have sinned, or of the unbelievers who have done wrong, with the intention of frightening them, we command that he be deposed. For our Lord has by no means taught us to do so, but, on the contrary, when he was smitten he smote not again, when he was reviled he reviled not again, when he suffered he threatened not." Canons 42 and 43 show that the expectations made of the clergy are not different from those of the laity. Thus, canon 42 reads: "If a bishop or presbyter, or deacon, is addicted to dice or drinking, let him either give it over, or be deposed." This is followed immediately by, "If a [[subdeacon]], [[reader]], or [[cantor|singer]] commits the same things, let him either give over, or be [[excommunication|excommunicated]]. So also laymen." Many other indications about the Christian way of life can be found in the canons of the Church.<br />
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==Other Sources of Ethics==<br />
There are several other considerations in the development of ethics from an Orthodox perspective. The first such consideration is the person of [[Christ]]. As our [[hymn]]ology indicates, Jesus Christ is perfect God and perfect man. As we believe that the perfection of man is reached only in communion with God, we strive towards that union. This is imitating Christ in the fullest understanding of the term. It is not an outward mimicry of Christ's actions, but a life of union with Christ in Spirit, prayer and the Eucharist. Only in striving for such a union can we begin to trust our ethical decisions.<br />
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It should be noted that union with Christ is achieved in and through the Spirit. It is the [[Holy Spirit]] Who guides the Church into the fullness of truth and it is, therefore, the Holy Spirit Who should guide our ethical decisions. That, however, can only take place if the focus of our lives is, as St. [[Seraphim of Sarov]] stated, the acquisition of the Holy Spirit. In practical terms, we can take our inspiration from those who have acquired the Holy Spirit: the saints of the Church. Their lives, teachings, and sayings can be valuable ethical guidelines for today's world. In doing so, we must remember that each saint had a particular path to holiness and that the life, teachings, and sayings of each saint fit the particularities of the saint's time and place. Therefore, not every teaching of a saint may hold universal validity. However, the principles embodied in the lives of the saints (e.g., dedication to Christ and love of neighbor) are the same principles that we need to embody in our own lives in order to live a life in Christ and acquire the Holy Spirit.<br />
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In the Orthodox Church, life is viewed as a continuous process of becoming closer to God. There is, therefore, a process of growth in the ethical aspect of life, as well. The importance of defining ethics/moral life in relation to life in Christ and the likeness of God is shown in those instances where the moral tradition does not provide clear responses. In particular, bioethics and medical technology, which brought about beginning- and end-of-life issues do not have ready-made responses in the Orthodox tradition. However, a life in Christ and knowledge of the tradition can direct us to genuine solutions which reflect the Orthodox understanding of creation and its relationship to the Creator.<br />
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Fr. Harakas points out that achieving a moral life requires will, self-determination, and commitment and that there are many means which work together towards the achievement of a moral life. They include at least the following: prayer, study, having a father confessor, knowledge of Scripture and [[Holy Tradition]], theology, love, worship, obedience, sacraments, mission outreach, philanthropy, and social concern. Each one of these elements cannot be taken individually. Rather, each relates to the other elements in the list. In the end, the realm of ethics from an Orthodox perspective cannot be separated from the general life in Christ which we are called to live.<br />
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==Articles on ethical issues==<br />
*[[Abortion]]<br />
*[[Anti-depressants]]<br />
*[[Asceticism]]<br />
*[[Assisted reproduction]]<br />
*[[Assisted suicide]]<br />
*[[Burial practices]]<br />
*[[Business ethics]]<br />
*[[Capital punishment]]<br />
*[[Chimeras]]<br />
*[[Circumcision]]<br />
*[[Cloning]]<br />
*[[Contraception]]<br />
*[[Cosmetic Surgery]]<br />
*[[Cryogenics]]<br />
*[[Embryo adoption]]<br />
*[[Environmental ethics]]<br />
*[[Euthanasia]]<br />
*[[Female Feticide]]<br />
*[[Genetic engineering]]<br />
*[[Homosexuality]]<br />
*[[Just war]]<br />
*[[Life support]]<br />
*[[Marriage]]<br />
*[[Natural family planning]]<br />
*[[Organ donation]]<br />
*[[Pain medication]]<br />
*[[Political ethics]]<br />
*[[Population control]]<br />
*[[Recreational drug use]]<br />
*[[Sex]]<br />
*[[Social Ethical Models]]<br />
*[[Stem cell research]]<br />
*[[Surrogacy]]<br />
*[[Tattoos]]<br />
*[[Torture]]<br />
*[[Usury]]<br />
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==Books on Orthodox Ethics==<br />
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[[Category:Bioethics]]<br />
[[Category:Ethics]]</div>Crawlingpilgrim