No matter the reason

I don't know if it's still reproductive choice week or not. But shit, it's reproductive choice week every week here.

India, despite having outlawed the practice of aborting girl fetuses for their girlness, still has a dearth of girls.

Feminist me says "duh, making abortions illegal, no matter what the reason is, NEVER reduces the number of abortions".

We use that as an argument here all the time. We say it just pushes women to find underground solutions. Rich women travel, poor women risk death and rusty coat hangars. But making abortions illegal doesn't change the demand for them. This also works as an argument in places where abortions happen for reasons we find repellent.

Now of course I think aborting girl fetuses because they lack a penis is atrocious. But simply making abortion illegal is not going to make more girl babies be magically born. In a place like India, the only way to make daughters more desirable is by making them people and not property. And that takes a lot more laws, a lot more work, a lot more money.