Capes wrote:
I do also agree that Jesus would be morally against abortion. But then again, he would also be against incest, rape, and irresponsible sex. And isn't that really the reason most abortions become desired in the first place?
Sadly, no.
In 1987, the Alan Guttmacher Institute (a pro-abortion organization) collected data on the reasons women have abortions. Here is the result (respondents gave up to three reasons, so the percentages don't add up).
- Woman is concerned about how having a baby could change her life - 76 %
- Woman can't afford baby now - 68%
- Woman has problems with relationship or wants to avoid single parenthood - 51%
- Woman considers herself unready for responsibility of a child - 31%
- Woman doesn't want others to know she has had sex or is pregnant - 31%
Surveys taken since that time by other entities don't demonstrate remarkably different results.
Most of these reasons have to do with the comfort of the woman or her economic status. Few abortions are actually performed for the benefit of the child. In fact, one might argue that no abortion benefits the child.
The reasons given by those trying to justify abortion would carry more weight if women actually sought abortions for those reasons.
When I lived in Texas in the early 1990's, the state began a lottery. It was sold to the voters as a way to fund education, but its main supporters glossed over the fact that any profit from the lottery to the state would go into the general fund instead of directly into the education fund. When this was made apparent, many of the same voters who were so enthusiastic about bringing in the lottery "for the good of the children of our state" were quite angry. The justification for something so controversial was not so just after all.
In the same manner, abortion is often portrayed as one of the cures for social ills. Legal abortion has been touted as a way to reduce child abuse, lower the teen pregnancy rate, improve the status of those living in poverty, reduce the stress on couples or single women with little money, and reduce the number of abandoned children.
It has done none of these things. I agree that if abortion were done away with tomorrow these problems wouldn't go away, but abortion doesn't solve them either. The issues are far more complex than that.
