Vote Down of PRENDA a Win for Immigrant Women

(New York, NY)—The National Coalition for Immigrant Women’s Rights applauds the members of Congress who stood up for women’s health by voting down the “Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act,” known as PRENDA.
As organizations representing thousands of women of color, and as women of color ourselves, we work every day to fight sex discrimination and racial stereotyping in all its forms.
We condemn the gender bias that can lead women to feel pressured to have a child of a particular sex. And we work everyday in our own communities to address the real problem – gender stereotyping – that can lead to this pressure.
But no woman should ever be scrutinized or interrogated by her doctor based on cultural background, and that is exactly what would happen if this bill becomes law.
This policy wouldn’t address the root causes of abortion for sex selection. It would just take away a woman’s ability to make personal, private medical decisions.
For more information about race- and sex-selective abortion bans, please read NLIRH’s fact sheet entitled, “Race- and Sex- Selection: A wolf in sheep’s clothing” at http://latinainstitute.org/publications/Race-and-sex-selection-A-wolf-in-sheeps-clothing