Jill over at Business of Life has an excellent post on the what widespread availability of abortion has led to in China and India, which is millions of fewer girl babies and too many young men without a the possibility of marrying. Those demographics are leading to greater violence and crime, creating quite a societal problem for these two countries, especially China, which has 40 million bachelors.
Meanwhile, back in the USA (where we abort without particular attention to the sex of the child), there have been psychic costs to indivuals and to our society too. Jill points to a four-part series at ShrinkWrapped about the availability of abortion on demand, and how it has affected women (and men) who had elective abortions, children, and our society. One poignant excerpt:
"Consider the impact of a child growing up in a society which believes that a child is a gift from the Deity. A child in such a culture knows that their surround considers them precious above and beyond the love they may receive from their all too human and fallible parent. While such an "archaic" notion opens one up to ridicule in the precincts of sophisticated thought where the liberal pro-choice views hold sway, it was the prevailing wisdom not that long ago. In contrast, a child who is growing up in a culture which idealizes the freedom of women to abort for no more reason than her comfort or convenience, is a culture that fundamentally does not value children. Children who experience themselves as commodities whose existence serves the needs of others, have a natural tendency to treat themselves and others as mere 'need satisfying objects. '"
ShrinkWrapped has changed his ideas about abortion over the years:
"It was through my work with Susan, and work with a number of other people touched by the tragedy of abortion, that I began to re-assess my conviction that abortion was a relatively minor, ultimately harmless exercise and that a woman’s right to choose was sacrosanct."
"At this point I have concluded that the only possible option for myself is to remain in a state of some conflict over the question. I can see no way to understand abortion as anything but the killing of child. I long ago concluded, along with Mrs. SW that, even in the event of an unexpected pregnancy, we could not choose to terminate our child. I have concluded for myself that the child’s right to life must trump the mother’s right to choose at the time of viability, which is now 22 weeks, though I do believe in exceptions for exceptional circumstances. I recognize that other people can come to different conclusions, but I also firmly believe that by short-circuiting the public discussion of what abortion means, we have done ourselves a terrible disservice."
"I have concluded that our society desperately needs to re-open the debate and discussion about abortion, which is really a debate about the value we place on our children and our future. .... For the most human of psychological reasons, I would like to see the Supreme Court repudiate and rescind Roe v Wade and return the debate to the people, where it belongs. In New York, where I live, abortion on demand is certain to be established as the law of the land. I suspect in Kansas, there will be a different outcome. Neither resolution will be fixed in stone; we will, as a nation, be forced to come to grips with what abortion means, to the individual and to our society... We will no longer be able to use facile intellectualization and rationalization to deny that abortion requires killing a living creature that by 22 weeks, ie, early in the second trimester, is a viable human being. The age of viability is being pushed closer and closer toward conception and we need to determine where the lines are to be drawn and how we are going to deal with the truth of the act."
Powerful stuff. The abortion debate does need to be re-opened. We have to stop pretending that taking a life is inconsequential.
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