UN: Gendercide abortion means Armenia is heading towards "demographic crisis"

Garik Hayrapetyan, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Armenia's assistant representative. Image: Yahoo News

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has warned that sex-selective abortion is seriously skewing the ratio of men to women in Armenia, according to Yahoo News.

The UNFPA reported that in 2012, there were 114 boys born to 100 girls, when the natural norm would be 102-106 male births to female. Sex-discriminatory abortions kill around 1400 unborn girls in the former Soviet country each year - the third highest rate in the world.

Shortage of women

"In 10 to 20 years, we will face a shortage of women and -- combined with a dramatic decline in fertility rates -- that will lead to a serious demographic crisis," warned Garik Hayrapetyan, UNFPA Armenia's assistant representative.

"By 2060, some 100,000 potential mothers will not have been born in Armenia. We will become a society of single men."

The UNFPA attributed Armenia's sex-discriminatory abortions to "patriarchal structures" and a trend for smaller families, as well as easy access to prenatal scans and abortions.

"Extreme form of gender-based violence"

SPUC's Fiorella Nash, who has extensively researched the practice throughout the world said; "Sex-selective abortion is an extreme form of gender-based violence which is responsible for the deaths of millions of baby girls around the world."

She also responded to women's rights groups in Armenia, who have opposed legislation, which included questioning a woman on her motives for abortion, and banning it after 12 weeks, aimed at reversing the female foeticide trend.

Abortion is the deadliest enemy against women

"Whilst it is commendable that women's groups are tackling some of the factors behind gendercide, such as patriarchal attitudes and the poor status of women, it is completely dishonest to ignore the fact that abortion itself is the deadliest weapon against women. Both legal and cultural change is necessary if unborn baby girls are to be protected."

Pro-Life women to participate in Women's March on Washington

"It's time for the Women’s March to speak up for all women." Image: Pro-Life Youth

Pro-Life women are planning to join a women's march taking place the day after Donald Trump is inaugurated.

Representatives from groups such as the Stanton Policy Centre, And Then There Were None and Sound Legal group, want to send the message that the pro-choice narratives pushed by the event's organisers do not speak for all women. The march is sponsored by Planned Parenthood, NARAL Pro-Choice America and other abortion advocates.

Catherine Glenn Foster of the Sound Legal Group, said that the Women's March cannot claim to speak for women while promoting the abortion industry.

"The Women's March on Washington claims to be about human rights, nonviolence, and confronting injustice," Ms. Foster said in a statement. "But by accepting Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and other abortion activism organizations as co-sponsors, the Women's March on Washington has betrayed its mission and failed to confront the injustice in front of its face."

"It's time for the Women’s March to speak up for all women."