Virginia has become the most recent state to consider a bill on banning sex selection abortion. So far only four other states have banned abortions made on the basis of the child's gender.
Those states are Arizona, Illinois, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania. Mailee Smith, staff attorney at Americans United for Life, tells OneNewsNow sex-selection abortion is a gruesome practice, yet there is no way to know how often it happens in the United States.
"Abortion providers are not required to ask the reason women are having abortions, but what we do know is that Planned Parenthood has released a statement indicating that they will do abortions no matter what the patient's reason is -- even if that reason is that the child is a so-called 'unwanted' sex," she says. (See earlier article)
Americans United has model legislation states can use to pass the laws against sex-selection with key provisions for enforcement, such as criminal penalties.
"[With those laws] if the state's attorney finds out that an abortion provider has been performing abortions based on sex, he can bring criminal charges against that abortion provider," Smith explains. "There are civil penalties. A woman or her family members can bring an action in a civil court and sue the abortion provider."
Last year, on an international basis, an estimated 163 million girls were killed through sex-selection abortions -- and those cultures, according to AUL, are represented in the U.S.