It's 2013 now. We recognise that we no longer discriminate against those with disabilities. Women who undergo screening have already decided that they want to be pregnant, otherwise they wouldn't go to a health practitioner for pregnancy care, they would be seeking an abortion. If that wanted pregnancy is turned into selecting the type of child, then it's discrimination and eugenics.

Susanonline, you need to stop being so discriminate against children and babies with down syndrome. Its very sad the way you feel about our kids. It is obvious you think our kids are less worthy of anything compared to you. Shame on you! Thats all I have to say.

Mum2boys you can twist what I say all you like.
That's all I have to say.

I don't like the idea of gender based abortion either, but if abortion is 'discrimination', it is (equally) the case in all terminations, even where the foetus develops in the fallopian tube.

However the author seems more concerned to prove that women have a higher morality than men. Informed by her feminism, she feels obliged to excuse and defend women for girl abortions, blaming men for putting pressure on them. I don't believe that at all, women and men migrants are equally imbued with their introduced cultural traditions. That can be seen in the case of FGM, for instance, where women take the lead.

I also do not believe that traditions that are offensive to us and are opposite to our culture and laws will die out in a generation through public education, as hoped by the author. Maybe some will and perhaps too in other cases the traditions could become more hard edged. Maintenance of negative cultural traditions in the host country depends on many factors, such as the strength of the tradition, possible reinforcement through migrants from the same regions being located together, tolerance by authorities (police turning a blind eye) and so on.

The article is useful because it surfaces the untidiness of moral decisions. It is self-indulgence though because the doctor realises that abortion must be the choice of the woman concerned and it is inappropriate to second-guess or judge her decision. There can be no 'good' or 'bad' abortions if the policy is to work and be practical. A termination is a termination. If the woman's partner, women relatives or others seek to influence her then so be it, she is an adult and must take responsibility for her choices.

While on that, it could be argued that feminists continue to patronise and victimise women by assuming that they cannot make their own informed decisions and be accountable for them. Just because some women might not have a university Degree, or might not assert themselves as loudly and obviously as western women habitually do, does not imply that they are stupid, easily influenced and incapable.