Letter: Abortion is greatest threat to women's liberation

Editor,

The emancipation of woman is leading to her downfall.

Throughout most of the history of humanity, man has held full control over when to have children and how many children to have, even though it was the woman who carried the children within her body and cared for them until they left home. The arduous task of giving birth and raising children kept the majority of women in the home and eliminated the option of pursing other goals, such as acquiring an education.

The too-often overbearing man failed to recognize his wife as a person with the ability and the right to contribute to the decision of when and how many children to have. This sad reality led to the movement of many women - often called feminists - to push for more control over their bodies and reproductive capacities. In the United States, this movement led to the legalization of the sale of artificial contraceptives and the legalization of abortion, despite the fact that many feminists in history - such as Susan B. Anthony - and many feminists today reject abortion as a means of reproductive freedom.

Paradoxically, abortion, which at first appeared to be the emancipation of women from the slavery of having no control over their reproductive capacities, is leading to the downfall of women. Nothing else in history has opened so wide the door to that perennial subjugation of women as has abortion. Through abortion, women are not only treated as less than human, but their very existence is threatened, especially in countries where women have much work to do toward being recognized as equal to men.

During the last several weeks, multiple news agencies reported the horrid fact that in the last two decades alone, more than 10 million females have been aborted in the country of India, far outpacing the number of males who have been aborted. It is estimated that, overall, 40 million women have been aborted in India. In an effort to curb this intentional destruction of unborn females, the Indian government has passed laws outlawing the advertisement of sex-selected abortions.

India is not the only country with this problem. The most obvious is China, which is notorious for its forced abortions on women who are pregnant with their second or third child. Since families can have only one child and men are viewed as worth more than women, many families intentionally abort unborn females.

The sad reality of female fetuses being aborted at extreme rates forces one to recognize that abortion, far from being an accomplishment for women, is the worst thing to ever happen to women.

The hidden truth behind the subjugation of women has been given the opportunity to reveal its true face, and it has shown itself to be nothing less than the desire for the elimination of women. This horrid fact must force everyone, especially women, to reject abortion as an option for reproductive freedom and work to close the door on this greatest abuse of women.

Benjamin Sanchez

UNM alumnus