Abortion: Nothing new under the sun

15 Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, 16 "When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, she shall live." 17 But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. 18 So the king of Egypt called the midwives, and said to them, "Why have you done this, and let the male children live?" 19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and are delivered before the midwife comes to them." 20 So God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and grew very strong. 21 And because the midwives feared God he gave them families. 22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, "Every son that is born to the Hebrews* you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live." Exodus 1: 15-22 (RSV CE)

At Mass this morning the first reading was from Exodus. I was struck by something: What Pharaoh was doing was what is being done today. There's nothing new under the sun. So I went home and looked at the full section.

I thought of abortion. In some nations, they are aborting not boys, though, but girls. But it's the same idea. Kill the gender you do not want.

Of course, you could extend it. Abort the children with traits you don't want, or who lack the traits you want, for example.

So Pharaoh was ordering what so many pro-abortion folks are allowing (and in some cases, for which they are even calling). It was even a notion brought up by Margaret Sanger and cited by Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginsburg: Kill the undesirables.