Abortion is not the same thing as female infanticide. To choose to kill a child because of its sex is completely despicable. Many women abort their pregnancies because they cannot afford or risk rising the child-but they go into their abortions without knowing what the sex of their child will be. At three months, women can no longer have abortions because it’s deemed too dangerous; but at three months, women wouldn’t be able to know their babies’ respective sexes and would thus be unable to commit female infanticide.

Coming from a culture that is closely tied to, at least, one of the countries where female infanticide rates are the highest in the world, I am not really surprised about these stats or these practices. I have grown up knowing about son preferences, and while extremely grateful that my parents chose to carry me to term and raise me, have always been assaulted with messages that sons were the more valuable investment.

While I understand, but would never condone, the reasoning behind why poorer families would participate in this practice, it is the richer, more affluent families that I completely despise. Why would anyone with such vast resources stoop so low as to kill infants, let alone female infants? They do not have the excuse of not being able to care for her, nor do they have the excuse of not being able to pay the taxes or fines that are imposed by the government for having more than two children (in China’s case). They are the ones with the most power and so it should be their responsibility and duty to stop the government from passing such laws and to at least attempt to save their daughters.