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LONDON, January 16, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Sex-selective abortion is so common a practice among minorities in Great Britain that the nation is “missing” an estimated 1,400-4,700 girs, according to a new report.

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An analysis of census data by the UK's The Independent newspaper found that a growing imbalance in the ratio of boys to girls in some ethnic minorities points to a rise in sex-selective abortions targeting girls in these groups.

The newspaper claims that the sex ratio in certain Asian populations in the UK is so skewed toward boys that it “can only easily be explained” by sex-selective abortions.

The Independent said it looked at 2011 census data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to investigate whether having a daughter as a first child raised the probability of a family’s second-born child being a boy.

“We found that the sex ratio of second-born children was heavily boy-biased in the families of mothers born in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and that there was some evidence of this being the case in families of mothers born in Bangladesh,” the investigators said.

The natural ratio of boys to girls at birth is 1.05, meaning 105 boys to 100 girls. The research team noted that ratios above 108 boys per 100 girls are unlikely to occur naturally.

“Specifically, we found sex ratios of between about 1.1 and 1.2 for the second child of these families – a heavy bias in favor of boys that could not be explained if the parents were completely 'blind' to the sex of their offspring,” the Independent’s report stated.

“In total, the statistics suggest that the selective abortion of female fetuses is taking place on a big enough scale to account for between 1,400 and 4,700 'missing girls' within all these ethnic groups (Pakistani, Afghan, Bangladeshi, Indian, Chinese, Nepalese and the others) living in England and Wales,” the report said.

The report concludes, “Put simply, our analysis indicates that gender-selective abortions must be taking place in these communities.”

Although an undercover investigation in 2012 by the Daily Telegraph exposed doctors willing to abort children based on their sex, the UK's Department of Health denied that the sting operation proved that sex-selective abortions take place in Britain.

The sting carried out by the Telegraph caused an uproar when doctors at clinics in different parts of the country were recorded agreeing to offer abortions after being told the only reason for the abortion request was that the mother didn't want a child of the sex she was carrying.

Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary, said at the time, “I’m extremely concerned to hear about these allegations. Sex selection is illegal and is morally wrong. I’ve asked my officials to investigate this as a matter of urgency.”

Britain's 1967 Abortion Act only allows direct abortion under a given set of grounds that include “injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman or any existing children of her family.” In all other cases “procuring a miscarriage” remains a criminal offense under the Offenses Against the Person Act 1861.

While the “mental health” clause of the Abortion Act has been broadly interpreted by abortionists, an abortion based upon sex alone was still widely considered as a clear violation of the law.

However, last fall the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, saidthat he would not prosecute two doctors for authorizing sex-selective abortions.

His decision that a prosecution would not serve the public interest fueled massive outrage, Starmer said that he “fully consulted with the police who agreed with him.”

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In a detailed statement the DPP argued that “the law does not, in terms, expressly prohibit gender-specific abortions; rather it prohibits any abortion carried out without two medical practitioners having formed a view, in good faith, that the health risks of continuing with a pregnancy outweigh those of termination.”

Starmer concluded that “it would not be possible to prove that either doctor authorized an abortion on gender-specific grounds alone.”

Dr Christoforos Anagnostopoulos, a lecturer in statistics from Imperial College London, told The Mirror, “The only readily available explanation that is consistent with a statistically significant gender shift of the sort observed in the census data is gender-selective abortion.

“In the absence of a better theory, these findings can be interpreted as evidence that gender-selective abortion is taking place,” Anagnostopoulos stated.

Moreover, the founder of the UK's Karma Nirvana charity and leading campaigner against honor violence against women and forced marriages, Jasvinder Sanghera, said: “There is absolutely no doubt that these terminations, where a mother has an abortion because the child is a girl, are taking place within the South Asian population in Britain.”

“If you have a daughter, these women will tell us, they feel they have let their husband or in-laws down,'” Sanghera said. “In those circumstances, women are seeking abortions if they can find out that the child is a girl.”

The UK's Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) said the practice of gendercide in Great Britain demanded the immediate reform of the Department of Health's abortion policy ,which permits abortion for any reason.

“The serious cultural prejudice against girls among a small percentage of UK citizens should not be used as a smokescreen for the ongoing slaughter of many hundreds of thousands of babies in the womb,” SPUC's general secretary, Paul Tully, said. “The injustice done to all these babies is the same – death – whatever the reason. Discrimination against women is being perpetuated by abortion.”

Tully added that pro-abortion politicians have “defended the practice of sex-selection abortion in Britain by arguing that it is only illegal if there is no other 'valid' reason for the abortion. The Department of Health does nothing to ensure that doctors observe even the lax conditions for approving abortion in the 1967 Act.”

He concluded by noting that “most baby girls (and boys) who are aborted are killed by doctors who pretend that the mother's mental health is at risk – and sign forms saying so.”

“The Department of Health funds and defends these abortions, encouraging abuse of the law,” he said.