Cameron on the fence

China is often in the news these days, chiefly because of its position as a foremost economic power.  Today it’s the destination of a prestigious royal visit.  Over the years, however, China has generally been known more for its infamous ‘one child policy’ and the subsequent notorious imbalance between males and females.

Political scientists Valerie Hudson and Andrea den Boer recently researched a period in Chinese history when devastating floods resulted in severe famine in north-east China in the mid 19^th century.  They discovered that during the famine widespread female infanticide took place, resulting in as many as a quarter of the young men of the region reaching adulthood with no prospect of marrying or having a family.  The majority of these so-called ‘bare branches’ (as the Chinese expression goes) became violent and looked for purpose in life by joining militias.  They caused untold damage to the troops and infrastructure of the ruling Qing dynasty, contributing to its demise.

This rebellion amongst China’s young men doomed to singleness foreshadowed the situation today, where there is a dramatic excess of young men.  We’re all well aware that there has always been a history of son preference, leading to female infanticide or neglect of daughters in some parts of China.  In addition to this trend, access in recent years to cheap ultrasound, enabling sex-determination in early-mid pregnancy, and easy access to abortion, courtesy of the government’s one-child policy, has led to the widespread abortion of female foetuses.

Statistics indicate that in 2000 the boy/girl ratio was 119:100, and among China’s floating population the ratio was as high as 128:100.  At this rate, by 2020, there will be around 30 million more men than women reaching adulthood.  This ratio is far in excess of the situation during the rebellion in the 19^th century referred to above, and the consequences could turn out to be far more catastrophic. 

The reason, explain the political scientists, is that young men with poor prospects of ever starting a family spell danger to themselves and to their societies.  They tend to discount their futures and take extreme risks.  They tend to become more violent, rising more readily to perceived slights and insults, and starting more fights – often over trivial issues.  These are the triggers for most man-on-man assaults and homicides. (see www.edition.cnn.com ).  The opinion of the political scientists cataloguing these effects is:

It would be difficult to overstate the urgent need for China to emulate South Korea in eliminating sex-biased abortion and neglect

The social injustice in China and its worrying long-term consequences should be a salutary lesson for us here in the West.  Yet MPs last Monday rejected an opportunity to confirm that the law in Britain prohibits abortion on the grounds of a baby’s gender.

According to law, legal abortion should only be offered on certain grounds, such as, for example, when the birth of the child would put undue pressure on the mental health of the mother.  In fact, as we know, abortion is only too available, on any number of pretexts.  It should have been taken as read, in light of the situation in China, that the simple amendment tabled by Fiona Bruce MP making it explicit that gender abortion in England and Wales is illegal, should be agreed and passed into the statute books with no real opposition.  Yet it was defeated by a margin of just over 90 following heavy campaigning by the pro-abortion lobby.  More worryingly, David Cameron made it clear that he didn’t support the amendment, as did shadow Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, in a letter to other Labour MPs.

Cameron, commenting on Fiona Bruce’s amendment, said:

But in doing so, I hope that the abortion rules are properly policed and prosecutions and all the rest of it are carried out when the laws are broken

This is a very non-committal statement, given that the letter of the law is broken for the vast majority of abortions, day in and day out.

Yet back in 2012 an undercover investigation by The Daily Telegraph revealed that British doctors in private and NHS hospitals were agreeing to provide women with abortions on the basis of their child’s gender.   A private prosecution against two doctors filmed offering such abortions is being supported by the Christian Legal Centre, but our government seems worryingly unconcerned about the illegal practice.

Whilst we are far from the situation China is facing, we are nevertheless allowing doctors in this country to ‘play God’ in the arena of gender selection – some of them at public expense.  If we allow the male population to increase disproportionately, we’re contributing to the creation of a situation where ‘surplus’ males will look for identity, excitement, adventure, risk and a cause to fight for, in an effort to fill the gap left in their lives.  If young people in the UK today are being radicalised now, and escaping to Syria to join IS, how much more will a frenzied exodus or home-grown uprising take place then?

The last days before Jesus returns will certainly be precarious on many fronts.  The apostle Paul warned Timothy:

Mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.  People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God

The further man strays from God’s good laws which protect the sanctity of life, and the sovereignty of his choice over the gender of children in the womb, the more self-inflicted havoc and danger man brings upon himself. 

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