Abortion: A Symptom and a Problem

The following email came in last week. Since it raises some common heart-felt concerns, I think my response will be helpful to Abort73 visitors at large.

Good day, I happened to visit your site today and really wanted to express my opinions to you. I must agree that the photos are shocking and disturbing, I don't think you would be able to call yourself human if you didn't think so. It is a very sad sight, to see children being ripped apart like that, and I agree that it is a horrible thing to do. But I'll tell you, if we all lived in a utopian environment, abortion would be non exsistant!

Although your site addresses the gruesome realities, you cleverly choose not to focus on some VERY important issues. While the sad music is playing and the dismembered children, lying in pool of blood take center stage I ask you why you choose not to show the real underlying causes?

The fact of the matter is that most of the people that decided on abortion are DUMB young women who are single and usually still in high school or without any education. There is no way that they would ever be able to take care of their child right. Is it fair to bring a child into this world knowing that this baby, through no fault of it's own, will never have the things it should and probably grow up underprivileged and as a "drain on society"? Most children that grow up on public assistance stay that way for the remainder of their lives.

We also have to ask ourselves: as a society what are we doing to give financial support to young mothers that feel they have no alternative? The governments contribution is minimal and the contributions of private organizations is few and far between. These contributions are as sparse as they are due to the overwhelming need. There is only so much they can do.

My final point is regarding Roe V Wade, and the possibly of overturning of it. I must say that it is an irresponsible decision to attempt to lobby in favor of overturning the decision. The fact of the matter is that whether abortion is legal or not, women will still have them. In the years before abortion was legalized you had a great many young women die due to botched, back room abortions or "the hanger". These women will still kill their unborn, only now they will be risking their own lives in the process. So I guess my question is: Is it better to have the satisfaction of celebrating that "abortion has been stopped", all the wile wiping the blood of these young women off your hands? OR - Would it be better to just accept that each person should have their own personal choice, but still focus attention on the education of America? When I say education, I mean teaching and preaching about abstinence, safe-sex, waiting till marriage, birth control pills;patches;injections, condoms, diaphragm, or even reversible sterilization.

Why not lobby to have the government provide these things for the youth? This way you will have less unwanted pregnancies, and the pregnancies that you do have will at the very least be aborted safely.

Sincerely and truly, with the utmost respect,

J

J, Thanks for your comments and concerns. I greatly appreciate you taking the time to articulate them. I'll do my best to respond to each one in progression.

Although your site addresses the gruesome realities, you cleverly choose not to focus on some VERY important issues. While the sad music is playing and the dismembered children, lying in pool of blood take center stage I ask you why you choose not to show the real underlying causes?

We agree that abortion is a symptom with real underlying causes. Nevertheless, it is a very real problem in its own right (killing innocent human beings en masse), and it demands a legal remedy. You could make the same argument about any "anti-social behavior." Why have laws against bank robbery? Why not just focus on the underlying problem of greed and laziness? Why have laws against rape? Why not just focus on the underlying problem of unchecked lust? Why have laws against murder? Why not just focus on the underlying problem of hatred? It is important to deal with the root as well as the cause, but at the end of the day, we cannot legislate what is inside a person's heart, but we can legislate against the actions that heart produces.

The fact of the matter is that most of the people that decided on abortion are DUMB young women who are single and usually still in high school or without any education.

According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, 19% of all U.S. abortions are performed on women under 20, 33% are performed on women between the ages of 20 and 24, and 48% are performed on women over 25. 

There is no way that they would ever be able to take care of their child right. Is it fair to bring a child into this world knowing that this baby, through no fault of it's own, will never have the things it should and probably grow up underprivileged and as a "drain on society"?

When a woman is pregnant, it is too late to ask the question, "is it fair to bring a child into this world?" The child is already in the world. It just happens to be living inside his or her mother. Nevertheless, the child exists in real time and space, and the environment in which we dwell does not affect the essence of who we are. Think about this. We could just as easily apply your scenario to an already-born child. Poor mother, addicted to drugs and alcohol, doesn't have a job. Her two-year-old son, "through no fault of his own" is growing up in severe poverty. Would it be legitimate to therefore kill this child on the speculation that he will simply live a miserable life of perpetually draining society? Obviously not. Why, then, is it any less barbaric to suggest the same "solution" for a child before he's born? How many men and women throughout history have overcome all manner of conceivable obstacles to make profound contributions to the world? There's no end to that list.

Most children that grow up on public assistance stay that way for the remainder of their lives.

We all grow up depending upon some degree of public assistance whether it's the public school, or public transportation or simply public roads. We all rely on government services. I could better respond to this statement if it were more specific. Are you talking about public housing, children whose parents are on welfare, children who live in foster care? Again, it is unfair to condemn children to die in an attempt to spare them from completely speculative future suffering. Even if there were some statistics (if you have them, please pass them on) demonstrating your argument, how does that change anything? Should we kill children who are growing up with an "over-reliance" on public assistance because the data suggests they'll need that assistance for the rest of their lives?

We also have to ask ourselves: as a society what are we doing to give financial support to young mothers that feel they have no alternative? The governments contribution is minimal and the contributions of private organizations is few and far between. These contributions are as sparse as they are due to the overwhelming need. There is only so much they can do.

This is a claim without factual support (if you have something, please send it). There isn't a pregnant woman in America who couldn't find the financial support necessary to carry her child to term and place for adoption if she wanted to. There are Crisis Pregnancy Clinics all over the country who exist for this very purpose. Read our section on adoption. Read what the leading adoption services say about abortion. It is not a lack of financial resources that is hindering adoption. It is the almost exclusive focus on abortion which most family-planning clinics provide. Women choose to abort, not because they couldn't find the help they needed to get through their pregnancy. They abort because they simply want out of their pregnancy.

My final point is regarding Roe V Wade, and the possibly of overturning of it. I must say that it is an irresponsible decision to attempt to lobby in favor of overturning the decision. The fact of the matter is that whether abortion is legal or not, women will still have them. In the years before abortion was legalized you had a great many young women die due to botched, back room abortions or "the hanger". These women will still kill their unborn, only now they will be risking their own lives in the process. So I guess my question is: Is it better to have the satisfaction of celebrating that "abortion has been stopped", all the wile wiping the blood of these young women off your hands?

First things first. If Roe is overturned, abortion will not thereby be illegal. It will simply return abortion jurisdiction to the states, requiring the states to enact or continue with their existing abortion laws in accordance with the normal legislative process. Federal abortion law was established through plain and simple judicial decree. It was never brought before the people. Regarding your contention that abortions will continue even if they're against the law, we agree. Again, though, let's look at the broader picture I tried to establish at the outset. Do were have laws against bank robbery, rape and murder? Yes. Do banks ever get robbed? Do women ever get raped? Do people ever get murdered? Yes. Should we abandon all such laws then? Obviously not. Why? Because, while they cannot prevent certain behavior all together, they can dramatically reduce its frequency. When abortion was legalized, it increased dramatically. As to your fear that if abortion is outlawed again, huge numbers of women will die from self-induced abortion, you can put your mind at rest. Will any women die? It's possible, but the numbers will be no where near the 1.3 million people who are currently dying every year in the U.S. from legal abortion. Bernard Nathanson, co-founder of NARAL, which authored the claim that 10,000 women were dying each year from illegal abortions admitted years ago that the number was completely fabricated for PR purposes. In the year prior to Roe v. Wade (1972), the CDC reports that 39 women died from illegal abortion in the U.S (24 more died that year from legal abortions). The increased "safefy" of abortion in modern times owes not to its legality, but to improved medical technology. Mary Calderone, former director of Planned Parentood, estimated in 1960 that 90% of all illegal abortions were performed by licensed physicians in good standing. The back-alley, coat-hanger abortion is nothing more than a convenient myth. But even if you won't let go of the claim that thousands of future women will die from illegal abortion, abortion itself would still be completely unjustified. Wouldn't it be absurd to try and legalize armed robbery by arguing that granting that such provision would make it much safer for the burglars to obtain what they're trying to steal? Laws must protect the potential victim, not the potential assailant.

OR - Would it be better to just accept that each person should have their own personal choice, but still focus attention on the education of America? When I say education, I mean teaching and preaching about abstinence, safe-sex, waiting till marriage, birth control pills;patches;injections, condoms, diaphragm, or even reversible sterilization.

Once again, we as "free citizens" are not "free" to make whatever personal choices we want. Our very freedom to live requires that some lesser freedoms be taken away. All laws are anti-choice. This is OK. This is good. As to education, that is what this site is all about, educating young people about what abortion actually is and does. As to increasing birth-control education, there is no evidence that this emphasis in education actually prevents abortions. The Alan Guttmacher Institute, Planned Parenthood's own research organization tells us that 54% of all abortions happen despite contraception use. Only 8% of women having abortions have never used birth control.

Sex-ed proponents argue it will prevent abortion, but it's just as easy to argue that what it actually does is make more kids more sexually active and much sooner than they would have otherwise been. The creation of a sex-saturated society is what Planned Parenthood has long been about.

Ultimately, every single argument boils down to one question. Who is the unborn child? The humanity of that child is what makes abortion unjustified. Once this fact is settled, all the other arguments fall into place.

Thanks again for your time and I hope this has been helpful.