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OTTAWA, April 4, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The theme of the 2013 National March for Life in Ottawa is a call to end female gendercide, the practice of aborting pre-born girls simply because they are female.

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“In some countries, abortion is being used to conduct a war on baby girls,” states Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), the organizer of the National March for Life in Ottawa.

CLC points out that what was once thought to be a problem only in far away lands has been found to be happening in Canada.

“The Canadian Medical Association revealed that this barbaric practice is happening in Canada, with sex-selective abortion being utilized to target baby girls in the womb. This is the ultimate form of sexist, anti-woman discrimination,” CLC says.

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In an editorial in the January 16 issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, interim editor-in-chief Dr. Rajendra Kale said that while “[s]ome readers might be skeptical about whether female feticide is in fact taking place in Canada and the United States, research in Canada has found the strongest evidence of sex selection at higher parities if previous children were girls among Asians — that is people from India, China, Korea, Vietnam and Philippines.”

Dr. Kale suggested that the solution to the problem is “to postpone the disclosure of medically irrelevant information [such as the sex of the child in the womb] to women until after about 30 weeks of pregnancy.”

However, this would not necessarily stop sex-selective abortion of girls, due Canada’s total lack of restrictions on abortion, which means that a woman can legally abort her child right up to the moment of complete birth. It would likely be considerably more difficult to find a willing abortionist that late in pregnancy.

Following Dr. Kale's editorial, a sting investigation by CBC in June 2012 found that almost three-quarters of the twenty-two “entertainment ultrasound” businesses they visited in Canadian cities were willing to do a scan solely to determine the sex of an unborn child, some as early as 14 weeks gestation.

“You basically proved that it is happening here,” Dr. Verjinder Ubhi, who practices medicine in Brampton, Ontario, told CBC. “We had suspicion but no evidence. This is happening here, right in Canada.”

In response to this evidence, British Columbia Tory MP Mark Warawa launched a motion calling on the Parliament of Canada to condemn sex-selective abortion.

Motion 408, which Warawa filed on September 26, reads: “That the House condemn discrimination against females occuring through sex-selective pregnancy termination.”

“Recent studies have shown that the practice of aborting females in favour of males is happening in Canada,” said Warawa. “92% of Canadians believe sex-selective pregnancy termination should be illegal.”

“Gender selection has been strongly condemned by all national political parties,” he added. “As well, the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada have vehemently opposed sex-selection pregnancy termination.”

However, on March 21, 2013, the Sub-Committee on Private Members’ Business rejected Motion 408 as non-votable, although Warawa pointed out that “the analyst from the Library of Parliament repeatedly, about three times, said that the motion does meet the criteria.”

“I believe members were forced to break the rules. Breaking the rules is serious, it’s a breach of Parliament, and it’s a breach of a Member of Parliament’s privileges, which in essence would be a contempt,” Warawa said.

Subsequently, Warawa accused the subcommittee members of “disregard[ing] the rules of Parliament” and vowed that he would appeal the decision “all the way.”

“It’s a dangerous step to disregard the rules of Parliament,” Warawa told LifeSiteNews.com. “The issue is not about M-408 anymore. It’s about democracy.”

Campaign Life Coalition therefore urges all Canadians to attend the National March for Life in Ottawa on May 9th to stand up for legislation to end abortion, especially sex-selective abortion, in Canada as well as to defend our democratic right to nonpartisan representation in parliament.

“Each year at the National March For Life, thousands gather to demand protection for children before and after birth. Last year, almost 20,000 pro-lifers assembled on Parliament Hill and marched through downtown Ottawa to inform Canadians that we are the only western nation with no protection for the unborn,” Campaign Life Coalition states.

“This event is a great opportunity for people of all ages to join in the civil rights movement of our day. By your presence, you can show lawmakers that the abortion issue is not settled.”

The march will take place on Thursday, May 9.

A video highlighting this year's National March For Life theme, and information about scheduled events in Ottawa, is available on the CLC's website