Too Few Women: The Real China Story The Washington Post Missed
The gender imbalance in China and Asia is wreaking social chaos. And the Washington Post's worldview won't let it admit the real cause of the problem.
Twenty-one-year-old Li Defu is hard at work, building a house in rural China. While American men his age spend their free time gaming with friends, Li knows he has no time to waste. Without this house, he may never find a wife.
As Li told the Washington Post in a story titled "Too Many Men," "At the moment there aren't any girls my age around. I am building this new house in preparation, in case I find someone."
But even with a nice house to attract a bride, there's no guarantee that Li will ever find one. The reason: There are 34 million fewer Chinese women than men. Indian men share this demographic nightmare: There are 37 million fewer women than men in India.
What's the cause of this huge gender imbalance?
Well, reading the Post, you could be forgiven not coming to the obvious conclusion: Seventy million unborn baby girls were aborted — killed in the womb simply because they were female. Instead, the Washington Post refers disingenuously to "cultural preferences, government decree and modern medical technology." In a 5,300-word story, the word "abortion" is used exactly once. The social damage caused by sex-selection abortion is mind-boggling — and yet, the Post can barely bring itself to mention the word!
Now, it's a safe bet that most of the editors and writers for the Post consider abortion not merely a woman's right, but also a cultural good. So why are they so reluctant to use the word in this front-page story?
I suspect it's because nobody likes to be faced with the fact that their worldview is flawed — in this case, tragically so.
For decades, western family planning groups, such as International Planned Parenthood Fund and the United Nations Population Fund, have promoted abortion on a massive scale as the solution to many of the world's problems. They've worked with leaders in both China and India, urging them to bring down their population levels through abortion and sterilization.
The result? Seventy million men, who expected to marry and rear children, are desperately lonely. "Brides" are kidnapped from other countries. Forced prostitution and assaults on women are on the rise.
Ironically, many of the parents who aborted their baby daughters in favor of sons will never have grandchildren: There are no women for their sons to marry.
Abortion proponents portray abortion as a social good that allows women control over their own bodies. But in India and China — and sometimes in the West, as well — abortion has given women LESS control. They are forced, by their government or their husband's relatives, to kill their unborn daughters.
The story of those 70 million missing women reminds us that our worldview, how we see reality, how we define what is good or bad, will affect how we live — as individuals and as a society. As Chuck Colson often urged us, we should test the validity of any worldview by following it to its logical conclusions.
The Christian worldview considers children of both sexes a great blessing. In Psalm 127, we read, "Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them." But secular abortion advocates think we should solve the problems of the world through the slaughter of the innocents.
The good news is that we can do something about this ongoing tragedy: We can support the Save a Girl campaign, a program that helps Chinese women keep their baby girls.
We can also talk about the Post piece with our neighbors, helping them see the tragic consequences of a deadly worldview: In this case — seventy million missing women — and the lonely men who will go through life without them.
Originally posted at Breakpoint.
