From: mcochran@nyx.cs.du.edu (Mark A. Cochran)
Subject: Re: Abortions should be rare
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Date: Thu, 28 Jan 93 07:53:32 GMT

In article <1993Jan26.120500.2137@guvax.acc.georgetown.edu> hasselbring@guvax.acc.georgetown.edu writes:
>In article <1993Jan25.195007.11399@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu>, mcochran@nyx.cs.du.edu (Mark A. Cochran) writes:
>> In article <1993Jan25.115252.2129@guvax.acc.georgetown.edu> hasselbring@guvax.acc.georgetown.edu writes:
>>>According to both the Washington Post and the Washington Times, 
>>>Clinton said that America should be a place where abortions are legal 
>>>and safe, but rare.  
>>>
>> He certainly did. Don't you think that's a good goal to shoot for?
>> 
>>>I wonder what he meant by rare.  Does he realize that currently one of 
>>>every three pregnancies are terminated by abortion?  Does he realize 
>>>that over 4000 babies are aborted per day on the average in the US?
>>>
>> I think it's safe to say that President Clinton has access to more
>> statistics then any of us here would care to wade through. Of course
>> he knows wha tthe current rates are.
>> 
>>>I know of no one who thinks that the repealing of the bans on 
>>>22-Jan-93 will result in fewer abortions.  How can Clinton say that he 
>>>thinks aboritons should be rare when his actions will make abortions 
>>>more common?
>>>
>> Perhaps because (being a rational man) he realizes tha tthe way to
>> reduce the number of abortions is to address the causes of abortion.
>
>But his actions in no way addressed the causes of abortion.
>
And after all, you've given him *such* a long time to get the rest of
his plans started, haven't you? President Clinton has publically
stated his support of the cause addressing I mentioned.

>> By education, ensuring the availability of effective, affordable
>> contraceptives, and by education.
>
>The most effective, most affordable "contraceptive" is to time sexual 
>intercourse so that you do not have it during the 5 days each month 
>when it is possible to conceive.  This requires good cooperation 
>and communication between husband and wife, an understanding of the 
>processes of menstruation and conception, and a small amount of 
>sacrifice (that is not being able to have sexual intercourse anytime 
>the desire arrises).  
>
>I agree that such education would be excellent!  
>
Only if you are certain to include the small fact that NFP (which is
what you are recommending above) has a failure rate of 20%. Hardly
what I would call effective, considering that NORPLANT has a failure
rate of 0.03% as of the 1990 figures.

>> If you want to reduce the number of abortions, banning abortions is
>> not the way to go about it. Address the causes. Teach kids the truth
>> about sex, and how to protect themselves. Encourage them to wait, and
>> discourage promiscuous behavior (just don't delude yourself into
>> thinking you're going to stop teenage sexual experimentation).
>
>I agree that we cannot completely stop promiscuous behavior.  I do 
>think that requiring those who are promiscuous to be responsible for 
>their actions is not too much to ask.  That is, they should be 
>responsible for children they concieve by carrying them to term
>and then either raising them themself, or giving them to loving 
>adoptive parents.
>
1 - Abortion is a responible way of dealing with an unwanted
pregnancy. Your trivial dismissal of the riggors of pregnancyy and
childbirth completely ignores the risks to the womans health and
employment, jsut ot name a couple.
2 - Adoption services are flooded with unwanted children now. Why?
Because unless it is a healthy white newborn,  the odds of it ever
being adopted are miniscule. How much more are you willing to pay in
taxes to support all the unwanted children dumped into adoption
services by your legislationi?

>Letting people think that abortion is an easy way out, only 
>encourages them to be promiscuous.  
>
Please show where I or anybody else on the pro-choice side has
described abortion as 'easy'. It is never an easy decision, nor should
it be.
Incidentially, your assertion that abortion encourages promiscous
behavior is completely unfounded. If you wish to pursue this claim,
please back it up with some supporting evidence.

--
                  Mark Cochran          merlin@eddie.ee.vt.edu
These are the views of my employer, your employer, your government, the
Church of your choice, and the Ghost of Elvis. So there.
Member, T.S.A.K.C.
Newsgroups: talk.abortion