From: rgoers@gumdrop.Xerox.COM (Ron Goers)
Newsgroups: talk.abortion,alt.abortion.inequity,alt.birthright
Subject: Re: Don't just whine about media bias. Do something!
Date: 28 Sep 92 20:18:47 GMT
Organization: Imaging Science Engineering & Technology, Xerox Corporation

In article <1992Sep25.210549.12681@msuinfo.cl.msu.edu> hatcher@MSUPA.PA.MSU.EDU writes:
>In article <19voc1INN236@hpsdde.sdd.hp.com>, regard@hpsdde.sdd.hp.com (Adrienne Regard) writes:
>>>For example, I believe
>>>there ARE too many abortions in the country.
>>
>>Just out of curiousity, what information do you base this opinion on?
>
>I believe it was my posting that this was extracted from.  And while I
>realize you and I are on the same side here (I think?, pro-choice), 
>and you aren't trashing me, I DO want to defend my statement.  
>
>As I stated in my original post, I beleive there are too many because 
>there are cases where they could have been avoided (and I think everyone 
>will agree that if an abortion could be avoided by some act prior/during 
>sex, any reasonable steps should be taken).  The reasons I stated include 
>a lack of information or availability of birth control (from what I've 
>read this seems to be a major problem with the teen population).  
>Abortion IS a medical procedure and carries some risks (small, but some) 
>and thus should be minimized if possible.  That does not mean that the
>procedure should be outlawed.  Analogy:  heavy drinking tends to cause
>health problems but are avoidable; some of these problems can be 
>alleviated by medical procedures; we shouldn't outlaw the procedures,
>rather take reasonable steps to avoid the problem (drink in moderation).
>
>>>But we as a society
>>>should bring down the number by attacking the root causes of women wanting/
>>>needing them: inadequate sex education (of both men and women), inadequate
>>>contraception choices/availablity
>>
>>And this?
>>
>>See, the most recent Ortho study on birth control usage by women shows 81%
>>of fertile women use some form of birth control.  That's a pretty high
>>number.  The abortion rate of 1.5 million for a year is only about 2.5% of
>>the entire fertile female population.
>
>Leaving 21%.  What these numbers don't give is the interesting quantity:
>percentage of *total* sexual *acts* where birth control is not used or
>is inadequate/fails.  Percentage of the population doesn't quite mean the
>same thing, as I'm sure you're well aware.  And I agree that 2.5% is a
>small number.  I am not arguing that abortion should be restricted because
>some absolute or percentage threshold is crossed.  I'm arguing that if
>one preventable abortion is avoidable, we should make reasonable attempts
>to do so.  
>
>>Neither of these numbers look especially high to me.
>>I have taken the opening of your posting to repeat these numbers to these
>>groups because many people aren't aware of them, and react to the notion of
>>1.5 million as if it were astronomical.  But relating it to it's max population
>>of 58 million, it's hardly in the ballpark.  One needs to investigate both
>>the population, and the incidence rate.
>
>I don't disagree.  I'm glad you gave real numbers (something sorely missing
>from this group).  And I'm not making a moral judgement on abortion when I
>claim the numbers are high; they appear to me to be higher than necessary
>in a "perfect" world.  Do you have any numbers on what fraction of the
>abortions were necessitated by (1) lack of birth control (2) failures
>(3) lack of understanding about birth control (4) other?  A problem is
>no good survey of this kind exists (that I know about).  If such survey
>existed then we could make more substantial claims about whether the
>numbers are indeed too high.  As of now, it's mostly (as you rightly
>pointed out) mostly an opinion, in my case based on (possibly biased)
>news reports and such.  If such a survey existed and 1+2+3 where any
>sizable (set you own limit here) fraction of the total, then I would be
>right in saying there are "too many".
>
>>Adrienne Regard
>
>-robert


98% of all abortions are for birth control reasons.  That's too many!  Less than 1% are performed for cases of incest/rape.  I believe that the increase in education is responsible for the increase in abortions!  Remember that the schools are "educating" very young and irresponsible children.  It's enough to get a teen-age girl to clean up her room every day, can one really believe she will be responsible enough to take her birth control pill daily.  Does she have any idea of what to do if she forget to ta







ke it one day?  Will she be responsible enough to say "no" for another month until her next cycle of pills is on schedule and up to date?  In the heat of the moment will the young man remember to don his condom?  In the real world, these situations are real and typical.  The 98% figure above points to that fact.  Education is NOT the answer.  Throwing money at a problem is NOT the way to make it go away.  

rlg
-- 
Ron Goers @ Xerox Corporation               Email: rgoers@iset.scan.mc.xerox.com

"Time flies like an arrow ...
 fruit flies like a banana"                                           
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