I said: Yes, I am not.
He said: Shame on you!
I said: OK! Well, what about you? Are you against female feticide?
He said: Of course, yes! It’s the most heinous crime killing innocent girls in the womb. The offenders should be punished severely. It is spoiling the sex-ratio to dangerous proportions. There will be an acute shortage of girls for marriage . . . What about you? Why aren’t you against female feticide?
I said: Before I tell you my answer, can I ask you a question?
He said: Go ahead.
I said: If you think female feticide is a crime, what about killing a male child in the womb? Why not protest against abortion?
He said: Well, we need to control the population.
I said: Ha! Controlling the population, is it? Then why save people in the hospitals? Let nature and disease take control and let people die when they ought to. Why save some in the hospital and kill others at the same time?
He said: Well, we abort unwanted babies; we save those whom we love. What is wrong with this?
I said: But those who abort female fetuses don’t want them; they want male children. So according to your logic they are perfectly entitled to get what they want, and reject what they don’t.
He said: We are fighting for social justice and empowerment of women. Why worship girls in your religious ceremonies when you are killing them in the womb? This is hypocrisy.
I said: Sanatana-dharma does teach serving girls in religious ceremonies, but it does not teach killing or aborting them. The latter is a purely modern invention. In fact, in the name of social justice, you are being a hypocrite showing compassion for one and no mercy for another. If killing a female child in the womb is murder, isn’t aborting a male child a murder too? What about animals being butchered in the slaughterhouses? Don’t you think they too have a right to life?
Selective compassion is no better than the herd mentality of animals, who also show compassion but only to those who are like them. Real compassion is spiritual, at the level of the soul. To love the soul and to try our best to love and uplift it is real spirituality.
I am not against female feticide alone; I am against all irrelevant killing. Please think.
“It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kunti, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father.” Lord Krishna in Bhagavad-gita (14.4)
Murari Gupta Dasa is a member of the BTG India editorial team.