Back in May, on a party-line vote, Democrats on the California State Assembly Health Committee killed a bill that would have outlawed sex-selective abortions–abortions done because of the gender of the unborn child.
In introducing the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act, Assemblywoman Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) claimed that women from such countries as China and India–where the practice, almost uniformly involving female fetuses, is outlawed–are coming to the U.S., particularly California, to obtain sex-selective abortions.
The committee’s Democrats introduced a resolution to condemn the practice, but stopped short of making it illegal to abort a child because it is of an unwanted gender.
Unwilling to accept the Democrats’ victory on the topic, San Francisco Supervisor David Chiu (D) introduced his own resolution this week to make San Francisco the first city in the U.S. to oppose any bans on sex-selective abortions. He claimed that such bans would cause discrimination against Asian-American women.
Without a vote on Tuesday, Sept. 16, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved Chiu’s resolution, with Chiu reiterating his arguments that the bans are “anti-immigrant” and that they are “exploiting harmful stereotypes.”
But apparently not all Asian-Americans concur with Chiu’s conclusion.
As quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle by columnist Debra Saunders, Peter Kuo, a GOP candidate for state senate, said in a campaign letter:
“As a Taiwanese-American, I’m appalled by his attempt to characterize a very difficult, very polarizing debate in racial terms.”
Kuo continued: “Crying racism every time someone doesn’t like your agenda minimizes the voices of Asian-Americans and furthers the narrative that we are just another ‘minority demographic’ that is willing to take the bait when the race card is pulled.'”
As also quoted by Saunders, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee said, “I’ve never had any education from Supervisor Chiu about what he’s doing here.” While emphasizing his pro-choice credentials, he also said to Saunders, “I don’t understand what he’s trying to solve.”
On the other hand, Chiu has announced his candidacy for the California State Legislature, so that may go a long way to explaining why he decided to make a new issue out of what was essentially a dead one.
And if the Jesuit-run University of San Francisco–which claims to be rooted “in Jesuit values”–has its way, one of its students may be helping Chiu: the university is apparently encouraging students to apply for a position as a “Field Operations Intern” on Chiu’s 2014 Assembly campaign.
Contacted by Breitbart News yesterday for comment, the University took the call but has not yet responded by either phone or email.
Image: Facebook
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.