The first National Week for Life and Family in Canada, from May 12th to 19th, is being promoted by the Catholic Organization for Life and Family (COLF), founded jointly by the Canadian Bishops’ Conference and the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus to “promote a culture of life, which fully respects the spiritual dimension of human existence and the supreme dignity of the person created in the image of God.” The initiative is part of the pastoral program “Building a Culture of Life and Family in Canada,” launched by the Canadian Bishops in 2011, in preparation for the Year of Faith 2013 proclaimed by Benedict XVI.

Among the events on the calendar, there is also the march to stop the selection of births on a sexual basis, which took place in Ottawa, Canada, on Thursday, May 9th.

Selective abortion based on sex discrimination is widespread in China and India, where millions of female children are killed before birth or not declared at birth, and so are totally deprived of protection. However, the selection on the basis of sex is spreading even in so-called civilized countries, because of the new technologies of prenatal diagnosis that allow knowing the sex of the unborn child. This is happening even in Canada. The Catholic Organization for Life and Family declares that, in the country, there are each year approximately one hundred thousand abortions and a growing number of selective abortions of unborn females. «The cause of life will win only when we have created a culture that respects the dignity and value of every human life, regardless of gender. A culture of life recognizes the value of every human life», said a message on the occasion of the COLF march. Indiscriminate abortion —say the organizers— can’t get the consensus of the majority of the population, but it continues happening «in the midst of silence and general apathy».
 

According to reports from the Osservatore Romano, statistical research made by India’s Government in 2012 shows that, although the selection of births on a sexual basis decreased, the number of crimes whose victims are girls has climbed even more than the number of crimes against children in general. In 2011, nearly three million Indian girls “disappeared” into thin air.

In China, the figures are even more disturbing. According to data from the Chinese Ministry of Health, there have been more than 300 million selective abortions over the last forty years, i.e. about 8 million each year. Over a thousand newborn girls are left to die on the street.