Religion and Abortion

[Ceridwen018]

The thing that's been bugging me lately is how inconsistent the judiciary has been on this issue. On one hand, abortion is legal. On the other hand, if a pregnant woman is in a car accident and her baby is killed, she can sue the guy who ran into her for manslaughter. I mean, is a fetus considered a human being or not guys, ya know?

 

[anders]

Is that really possible in Christian USA? According to the Bible, the person causing the accident should pay the father for the loss of his property, that's all.

 

[Mr Spinkles]

anders-- although you are correct in thinking that the U.S. population is largely Christian, and that Americans are more religious than most Europeans, I would caution against exaggeration...remember, without understanding, perceived differences lead to perceived threats; perceived threats lead to fear, and fear leads to animosity.

Sometimes I get the impression that Europe does not have a very good understanding of Americans. Anyway, sorry for straying off topic.

 

[civilcynic]

I believe that abortion should remain legal and whether or not a woman chooses to have an abortion should be a decision made between her and her doctor and her God (if she believes).

I would suggest that most women who are faced with this situation agonize over what to do and do not make the decision lightly. I have known women who have stated that they would never have an abortion but when ultimately faced with having to make the decision (circumstances vary) sometimes do. It is often much easier to say what one will do in a situation when its only theoretical.....its much different when you have to face that agonizing choice in reality.

Lastly, it would be prudent to remember that abortion has been around since the beginning of mankind. The real difference now is that we have the medical knowledge and technology to prevent a majority of unwanted pregnancies and to perform safe abortions on women.

Both Pro-choice advocates and pro-life advocates would do well to combine forces and promote accurate information in pregnancy prevention than continuously badgering each other about the abortion issue. Unfortunately, most pro-life advocates are also opposed to the use of all pregnancy prevention methods with the exception of abstinence and the 'rhythm method' ....both which as a high failure rate.

 

[Ceridwen018]

I partially agree here. The Pro-life movement is highly tied in with religion, (and therefore against contraceptives). To make matters worse, many of the Chruch leaders who rally for the pro-life cause are men. What woman is going to listen to a man when making such a decision (no offense, guys)? I am currently working on a campaign which excludes both of these parties...we'll see how it goes!

You did bring up a very good point when you mentioned education though. Sex-ed in schools is mediocre at the very best these days, which is definately the root of the problem. Kids need to be taught about STD's, family planning, safe sex, and abstinence. Educated kids make safe kids who never have to make such a life or death decision.

 

[Mr Spinkles]

I agree with the "more education" argument in principle, only it doesn't appear to have worked. Kids are much better educated about sex these days, and yet STD's and out of wedlock pregnancies have increased dramatically since schools started teaching more sex-ed.

 

[Ceridwen018]

This is kinda true, but sex-ed in public schools is absolute crap. To attack this problem at it's source, that really needs to be fixed. After that, kids will do what they want with no excuses.

In the perfect world, everyone would get 100%'s on their sex-ed tests and live healthy and safe lives, but that obviously isn't reality. Abortion is a quick (although temporary) fix for a tough situation. The debate about when life starts (and therefore how late the baby can be killed) could be debated for hours. I prefer to use the term 'potential life' instead to avoid disagreement. The minute that embryo plants itself in the uterus it becomes potential human life. What needs to be decided is weather or not it is lawful to terminate this would-be human.

So what do you all think? Is it ok to abort potential life?

 

[Runt]

Sex ed is a load of crap. In abstinence only schools there is little to no information to help kids who chose NOT to be abstinence-only-teens. They teach about the dangers of sex, but the only advice they give for avoiding these dangers is abstinence. They don't even teach condoms as prevention but rather as one of the dangers (they can leak, they are only x% effective, they don't block all STDs, etc).