Newsgroups: bit.listserv.christia
Date:         Fri, 10 Apr 1992 12:50:27 EDT
Comments:     Converted from PROFS to RFC822 format by PUMP V2.2X
From:         Brenda Curry-White <BSCURR01@ULKYVM.LOUISVILLE.EDU>
Subject:      Who's doing what (Was: Abortion)

Urban Research Institute
Phone: 502-588-6626

I think Kim may have been misunderstood.  I understood Kim to say that
many people who support pro-life tend to be politically conservative,
which means that they are less likely to support increased expenditures
for social programs such as Medicaid, AFDC, WIC, etc.  But I think her
statement was taken as implying that pro-life supporters only argue for
legalized abortion, and do nothing to help young, economically deprived
mothers.  I may be wrong, but I don't think Kim was saying this.

I sympathize with Kim and her upbringing, as we all should.  Child abuse
is a terrible thing.  No child should have to suffer it.  And it doesn't
only afflict impoverished homes.  I don't think Kim was implying that,
either.  Wealthy, Christian parents can and do abuse their children,
either physically, emotionally, or both.  A good friend of mine worked in
an emergency shelter for youths.  One teenager was there because she was
a disturbed youth and her parents couldn't handle her.  They were "good
Christian parents" who always went to church.  They couldn't understand
why their daughter was possessed by demons, and they told her so.  No
wonder she had problems.  But at the same time, abuse seems to be much
more concentrated in lower economic brackets.  My own theory is that the
stress of just trying to survive is so much higher that it may vent itself
in the form of abuse.

Now it is true that there are some pro-life clinics that do very good work
in helping young mothers who choose to keep their babies.  That same friend
of mine now lives in North Carolina where she says pro-choice organizations
like Planned Parenthood are now beginning to refer women who want to keep
their children to these pro-life organizations, and pro-life organizations
can get contraceptive information for their clients from pro-choice organi-
zations.  (What a novel concept--working together instead of screaming at
one another :-).

Now while it is true that these pro-life clinics do very good work, when
we talk about making abortion illegal we are talking about making a societal
change.  From a pro-choice point of view, it doesn't sound logically
consistent that pro-lifers support abortion legislation while not
supporting increased funding for social programs.  This is because
it is unclear that there would be ENOUGH programs to aid young mothers
should abortion become illegal--not that there aren't ANY.  It is
felt by many pro-choicers who are in the middle, those who would support
some legal restrictions on abortions (such as myself), that such
legal restrictions MUST go hand in hand with social programs as a
package.  That way we can GUARANTEE that these young mothers won't
be forgotten and neglected, and that their children will have a chance
at a decent life, because no matter how much work there is being done
right now by either side, it happens all too frequently.  Children
in Tennessee have had to stay home from school this year because the
school board couldn't afford to run the buses, and their parents were too
poor to be able to take them.  These are the kinds of issues that must
be addressed ALONG WITH abortion.  Please note that I am NOT saying that
abortion is the answer to these problems, only that if that option is
taken away from women, they MUST be offered more alternatives than they
now have, to DECREASE the likelihood that the stress of trying to survive
will overburden them.

I was disheartened to see the responses to Kim's messages.  She shared
a painful experience, and I don't think she was shown a lot of love.  No
one has to agree with her on abortion, but we should all feel respect
toward her, for she knows what it is to be an abused, unwanted child.
Kim, I praise God for you and for your testimony.

Brenda
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