From: compton@plains.NoDak.edu (Curtis M. Compton)
Newsgroups: talk.abortion
Subject: Re: The March in D.C.
Date: 13 Apr 92 08:57:15 GMT
Organization: University of North Dakota, Grand Forks

In article <1992Apr13.003355.4672@cs.dal.ca> franklin@ug.cs.dal.ca (Steve Franklin) writes:
>In <16709@plains.NoDak.edu> compton@plains.NoDak.edu (Curtis M. Compton) writes:
>
>>In article <1992Apr12.172804.21244@cs.dal.ca> franklin@ug.cs.dal.ca (Steve Franklin) writes:
>
>>If you are against day care, how do you propose to help families that need a
>>second paycheck to make the rent, put food on the table, and pay the bills?
>>It's all fine and dandy that you are against something that is so necessary,
>>many families would go under without.
>   Easy - that emphasis should be placed on supplemental financial aid
>from the government. There is not sufficient finances from the government 
>to provide women to stay home to care for their children. This support 
>should be increased.

Not to digress from the topic of this group too terribly far, but what about
women who chose to work?  If day care is taken away as an option, many women
will be forced back into the home to take care of their children, relying on
your subsidies to get by.  Just how much of a welfare state do you want?
Also which is better for society: A single mother that works and uses day
care; or a single mother that relys totally on the state subsidies you
propose?  Who will pay for all these new subsidies?  MORE taxes???  I heard
Canada pays more in taxes than we do in the States, and I wouldn't stand for
that here...   Back to the topic.

>>And I am disgusted by the tax-exempt status of many religious organizations
>>that are politically active.  The K of C is a shining example of a political
>>organization that should have it's exemption revoked.  Or is it that you are
>>the only one who has an opinion about fiscal policy?
>   I'm not sure what the K of C is... But in any case, I pay for murder.
>You pay for what you consider to be a bunch of bible-slapping ninnies.
>I think that I am being forced to pay for the more severe occurence.
>I bet you see it this way too, but you'll inevitably post against it.

The K of C is the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic group that is closely
associated with the Church.  The K of C gets many tax breaks that go with
being classified as a charitable organization.  Around here, at least, these
breaks include not paying taxes and being allowed to run "charitable
gaming", a form of gambling.  In Minnesota (my native land), they were under
investigation for funneling the gaming proceeds into pro-life propaganda
such as billboards, handbills, ads, etc.  This was a couple of years ago and
I haven't heard much about it since, but I see the K of C's billboards and
literature all over the place here in Grand Forks and home in Minnesota.  I
don't consider subsidizing their activities paying for "a bunch of
bible-slapping ninnies".  I consider this to be a subsidy of a religion by
the state.  I consider this to be a subsidy of a particular political
movement by the state.  All this makes me totally disgusted.

>   You put a woman who is stressed financially under a decision of abortion,
>and in a moment of heat, many will make choices that they are not proud of
>in teh future. If you give them proper education and decision we will most
>likely LOWER the number of abortions, which is what I would like to see.
>Many people sell their soul to the devil without thinking because of pressures
>placed on them.

If your goal is to reduce the number of abortions by educating the public
about alternatives, that's great.  If you want to reduce abortions by
teaching people about effective birth control, even better.  If you want to
make birth conrtol better by helping to fund research that has gone
virtually unfunded since the beginning of the Reagan Administration, I'm
with you all the way!  If we can address the problems of illiteracy,
poverty, and drug abuse that contribue to the demand for abortions together
as a society, things would be so much better.

If on the other hand, you want to stop abortions by saying no one can have
them, hold it right there buster.  The right to control one's own body is
fundamental.  The right to make reproductive decisions is a private matter
and not in the domain of the state.  Period.

I'm not saying abortion is the solution to everyone's problem.  I don't know
everyone well enough to tell them what to do.  Neither do you.  That's why
people are given free rein to make their own decision about life, the
universe, and everything.
-- 
Curtis M. Compton                        |  #include <witty_quote.h>
compton@plains.NoDak.edu                 |  #include <disclaimer.h>
Professor of Quantum Bogodynamics        |  #include <ascii_pic.h>
University of North Dakota, Grand Forks  |  #define GOD "Eric Clapton"