Sex selection abortion is a crime in the UK–as it should be everywhere. It is a form of eugenics.

But when doctors were caught arranging to do away with fetuses because of her XX chromosomes, prosecutors have refused to do anything. From the Telegraph story:

Doctors who agreed to arrange illegal abortions based on the sex of an unborn baby have been told they will not face criminal charges, despite prosecutors admitting that there is enough evidence to take them to court, it emerged on Wednesday night. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) was accused of failing to uphold the law after it ruled that it would not be in the “public interest” to prosecute the two doctors exposed in an undercover Daily Telegraph investigation… The two doctors were filmed agreeing to arrange terminations for women who requested them purely because they said they did not want to have a baby girl. One of the doctors did so despite likening the practice to “female infanticide” while the other told a woman her job was not to “ask questions”.

Is anyone really surprised? These days bioethical laws–that is statutes and regulations intended to create “protective” guidelines, limitations, and parameters around life-taking, life-denying, or life-creating enterprises–are there mostly for show. They aren’t really intended to be enforced, but to placate a wary public worried about the collapse of moral standards.

Remember that the next time they tell you, “Don’t worry: We’ll put strict guidelines in place to prevent abuse.”