Posted on 01/21/2002 11:26:40 AM PST by truthandlife
As people on both sides of the abortion debate gather in Washington this week to mark the 29th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion, there's an ongoing effort to examine why women have abortions in the first place. Some say men are pivotal in the decision women make.
"It's almost a unanimous statement...among all [women who have had an abortion] that they felt like they had no choice," observes Wendy Wright, spokesperson for Concerned Women for America.
That's ironic, Wright said, considering that the entire abortion movement was based on the idea of choice.
"But they feel they have no choice because their boyfriend, their husband [or] their parent is forcing them into it, telling them that they have to have this abortion, that they're not going to support them if they don't," said Wright, a pro-life activist who performs outreach work to women entering abortion clinics.
A 1998 survey conducted by the liberal Guttmacher Institute of 1,900 women who were seeking abortions found that number one reason for their choice was either that they couldn't afford it or were unready for the responsibility. Forty-two percent of women cited one of these reasons.
Other reasons given included concern about life changes (16 percent), trouble in the relationship with the baby's father or fear of single parenthood (12 percent) or lack of maturity/too young (11 percent).
The Guttmacher Institute characterized most of these reasons as "social problems." Wright traces it back to the father.
"Again, it does still go back to the fact that the abortion isn't something they wanted; it's that they felt they couldn't cope, that they couldn't finish their college career [or] advance in their career," said Wright. "Human nature is [that] she's going to be dependent on the man; and if he doesn't offer the support to give life to her child, then she's not going to feel very likely she can do it on her own."
An analysis by Catholics For Choice seems to support that conclusion. "Study after study has shown that in many countries of the world, women who have abortions would have continued that pregnancy if circumstances had been different." It's because many women who become pregnant unexpectedly are poor and feel they cannot provide a decent life for a child, the group says. And too often, "men are not prepared to love and commit to women and children."
Olivia Gans, a pro-life activist, agrees with Wright that men play a pivotal role. Gans herself had an abortion in 1981, before devoting her life to pro-life activism the next year.
"The single most important, powerful factor in the decision women make [according to a growing body of research] is the attitude of her partner, the baby's father," said Gans. "Eighty-percent of the decision is, in her mind, established based on his reaction."
In modern times, women actually expect more involvement from their partners in child-rearing, said Gans. If instead he urges the woman to have an abortion to stay together as a couple or says, "'I didn't want you to get pregnant; I have no interest in this; you deal with it; [or] it's your decision, you do whatever you want, I'll just do whatever you tell me to do,'" said Gans, women often experience those responses as a form of isolation and rejection.
Gans believes that the activism and rhetoric on women's freedom to choose has taught men that "the noble thing to do...is to say, 'well, honey, I'll drive you there.'"
In fact, the president of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League may have made a different choice if her husband had been supportive of her own pregnancy, according to Wright.
"In the early '70s, [Kate Michelman] had three kids, her husband left her, and she found herself pregnant," said Wright. "That's why she had an abortion. She was a single parent; she couldn't cope. If she had had someone around who would have supported her, she probably would not have been this crusader for abortion rights."
Now, hopefully one day everyone will realize that killing babies is just wrong..plain and simple. Wrong. And should not be done.
As a side note, I know a few women who had abortions at a very young age, and let me tell you, they are so sorry it happened. Bringing God back into it, I have to say he is a forgiving God. Sorry to bring up the God thingie again :~)
sw
That would be the Crusade known as "Bye-Bye Teddy, Bye-Bye..."
Agreed. And society must endorse said value. Enshrine in immutable law every good man's right to protect his pre-born baby, from conception forward. Will you do that, yes or no?
If yes, we can agree on everything else.
If you won't sign on to the legal endorsement of a father's right to protect his very own sons and daughters, then there is nothing else.
So which is it?
---the Queen---
Hi, wwjdn. And hello again to you, too L_Candide.
I am pretty new around here, so I don't know if it is bad form to suggest visiting another thread. If it is not, please take a look at the one wwjdn started earlier this week. It is called "Abortion's biggest LIE!!" I know it is bad form not to include the link, but, like I said, newbie who hasn't taken the time to learn how. Maybe wwjdn would be so kind as to do that for you in another post. I think it is relevant to the topic at hand, and has the bonus of involving some of the same people.
But even if you don't go it must be said. Women, and women alone, choose to kill their children. Abortion is one of Satan's greatest tools. He has reaped millions and millions of souls because of it. IT MUST END.
May the Lord's Grace and Peace be with you.
---the Queen---
The Lord's Grace and Blessing to you all
---the Queen---
Queenie, welcome! ;-D
Hey, that's a good one. Now try this one: "No" or this one: "Hey, honey, that's not such good fruit for us. Didn't God tell us not to eat that? Let's go pick some berries"
Proverbs 5: My son, pay attention to my wisdom,
listen well to my words of insight,
that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge.
For the lips of an adulteress drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil;
but in the end she is bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave.
She gives no thought to the way of life;her paths are crooked, but she knows it not.
Mark 8:38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels.
Revelation 18: With a mighty voice he shouted:
"Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!
She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird.
For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries...
Hebrews 13:4 Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.
Matthew 7:3 Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?
To sum up:
adultery=sin=judgement and death
murder=sin=judgement and death
but, Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the debt for our sins-- so that
adultery=sin(+Jesus)(-judgement and death)=forgiveness+eternal life
murder=sin(+Jesus)(-judgement and death)=forgiveness+eternal life.
Hey you've got something--there--right there--in your eye.
OUCH,
oh, oh cr@#,
I've got one in mine too.
Jesus loves you and He died for your sins and mine.---the Queen---
Tell me again how women get pregnant without the aid of a man? Men hold it in their power to virtually eradicate abortion. It's called self-control.
anniegetyourgun, this verse is addressed to men. It says to them, have self control or you will surely die. I agree with you--obviously it takes one man and one woman to get pregnant. It takes one woman to decide to kill a child. Then it takes a whole team of people to do it. The point is that there is so much sin involved in abortion. Not just the sins of murder and adultery, though those are the most obvious. Satan is sowing dissent between men and women, and we are helping by trying to blame each other. Scripture says all sin is equally abominiable in God's eyes. No one is blameless. Matthew 7:3 Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? Rather than sitting around arguing whether it is the man's fault or the woman's fault, let's all repent and rejoice in the Gift of Eternal Life purchased for us through Christ's sacrifice on the cross. He paid for the sins of ALL of us.
The Lord's Grace and Peace to you.
---the Queen---
That is why Planned Parenthood pushes safe sex with condoms so much. First of all it gives them cover for their abortion racket and second of all Planned Parenthood knows if they can just get people to have sex with condoms they know that many of the condoms will either break or not be used properly resulting in pregnancy and resulting in a chance to have an $$$abortion$$$.
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