From: c164-ad@po.berkeley.edu (Martin Guerrero)
Subject: Re: I had an abortion two days ago
Organization: University of California, at Berkeley
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 19:22:12 GMT

In article <1992Oct2.060222.6498@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> ren@Turing.ORG (Karen Prestemon) writes:
>
>I am the original poster of this thread.  It has now been a week and a half
>since my abortion, and I'd like to thank all the people who emailed me
>and expressed their opinions to me, even if you didn't agree with my
>decision.
>
>It isn't anyone's dream come true to have an abortion. I feel that it
>really is a tragedy that it exists at all, but I strongly dislike the
>notion that abortion is a problem in and of itself.  It's really a
>manefestation of the symptoms of our diseased society.  But making things
>like abortion just disappear doesn't solve anything.  Having children
>conceived by accident doesn't solve anything.  We are living in a world
>where parents are forced by economic reality to leave their kids
>in daycare while they both work just to make ends meet.  People are
>taking less responsibiltity for the raising of their children and
>leaving it to the hands of strangers.  Burned out teachers are being
>expected to be the motivating forces behind children's learning
>because parents just can't be there for their kids.  


I agree with you.  Looking at abortion as just a single issue can be okay.
But it is better if there is a wider outlook with abortion being one of
the issues.  For example, one of the issues is human life.  While protecting
the unborn, some pro-life people, in conjunction with "pro-choice" people
want to help out those in need.  Also, you can also take family values 
as an issue.  Yes, abortion is certainly a manifestation of our diseased
society.  I don't want to get into detail but maybe I'll post an
article by Gail Quinn about "Family Values."

>
>It seems that our society is weighted down by traditions that have
>long overstayed their welcome.  Who says a work day has to be 8 hours
>from 8/9 to 5/6?  Why is it not possible for professionals to work
>fewer hours in the day, for more days of the week, or to work in
>more flexible hours?  We know that children are suffering from
>all kinds of neglect, and that society suffers in turn from it, but
>no one seems to be looking at the big picture.  Tunnel vision frustrates
>me. 

No one said the work days has to be the traditional 8 hour a day routine.
People can start their own businesses and make their own time schedule.
Some people can even work at home!  We don't have to be slaves to the
corporate world.

>
>For some, the solution seems to be to turn back the clock to
>some greater, glorious time when there were nuclear familes aplenty,
>and no one ever entertained the notion of premarital sex.  I grew
>up in a Cathloic environment, with two parents who waited until
>after their marital vows were said to have sex, and I was literally
>shocked when, as a teenager, I learned that humans have ALWAYS engaged
>in non-marital sex, though not everyone makes this choice. Time magazine
>has this special issue out now that attempts to make a few predictions
>(it's interesting, though it is one big special advertising section for
>IBM  :).  One writer points out that when the creators of the Jetson's
>envisioned the future, they saw they "typical" nuclear family going
>about it's fabled business--mom still shops like crazy, dad works
>hard, the daughter has no career plans, etc.  This, however, it not
>thw way in which we are going to approach the 21st century.  Face
>the facts, folks, divorce isn't going anywhere, and single parent
>families aren't going to disappear any time soon.  

Nothing is wrong with striving for that which is good for society.

>
>Nothing was perfect about the 50's.

I kindly ask people not to relate the 50s with the basic notion of a family.


>  Both my parents were raised by 
>>their mothers after their alcoholic fathers vanished into thin air.  
>My husband's paternal grandmother lived with an abusive husband.  It's
>time we started letting go of the illusion of past morality, and
>begin taking a more wholistic approach towards curing our society.

There is nothing temporary about the anthropoligcal value of the human
family.

>Saving fetuses from abortion is one thing, but it isn't enough to
>"fix" things.  So much energy is being expended to fight over things
>like abortion, with so little effort going into making the quality
>of the lives that are here better. 

I disagree with your notion.  For sure, there are lots of pro-life people
and other people who are working hard to make society a better place.

> I just feel that we need to begin
>revolutionizing the systems that perpetuate such "necessary evils"
>as abortion.  I see the case of the 12 year old divorcing himself
>from his mother as a very importnat step.  I can't see how anyone can
>criticize a child's right to be raised in a nurturing, loving
>environment.
>
I sincerely hope you aren't proposing to change the family structure.
Xref: sparky talk.abortion:40129 alt.abortion.inequity:4211