Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Roe v Wade - Thirty-Five Years

"We women know when it is or is not the right time to bring a child into the world...We act out of compassion when we wait to have a child until the time when we can give it the kind of life every child deserves. We act out of love when we consider what we would be taking away from the child or children we already have if we brought another child into our family now...We women know the truth: That given certain circumstances, abortion is the most morally responsible and loving choice we can make."

-Jean Stewart Berg and Anne Baker
Thirty-Five years ago today the Supreme Court ruled that abortion was a constitutionally protected right. Since that time there have been over 50 million abortions in the United States. Today, though, the yearly number of abortions has fallen to all time lows, with "only" 1.2 million per year. Contrast that with a total of 4 million births each year in the US.

Predictably, the New York Times is worried that the decline in abortions means crime will soon be on the rise.

I have written fairly extensively about abortion. I do not condone it, nor do I believe it should be legal except in the rarest of cases. See here and here for my posts on the topic. They contain the reasons for my view, and a lot of information and statistics, as well as many of the conversations I have had with others.

9 comments:

None said...

"the New York Times is worried that the decline in abortions means crime will soon be on the rise."

vs.

"So, ultimately, although this is a bit of a guess, I would surmise that the low abortion rate today is being driven by a decrease in unwanted conceptions."

Whatever.. such a tired topic anyway.

Cameron said...

vs.

"If abortion rates are falling because it has become harder or more costly to get an abortion, then a falling abortion rate is bad news for crime. As the “price” (whether in monetary terms, social stigma, having to travel a long distance, etc.) rises, women who otherwise would have sought an abortion will not get one. This suggests that more unwanted children are being born, and thus crime rates may rise in the future."

The point being, of course, that it's a good idea to end human life because they're just going to be criminals anyway.

Tired topic? No. Sad? Absolutely.

Ashlee said...

"We act out of compassion when we wait to have a child until the time when we can give it the kind of life every child deserves. We act out of love when we consider what we would be taking away from the child or children we already have if we brought another child into our family now...We women know the truth:"

What you take away from kids you already have? Are you kidding me on this? I didn't realize that was part of the reason people chose to end a pregnancy. Because of the "others".
One problem with abortion is that whether the baby is wanted or not, there are others who want it. I know oodles of people who want to adopt. One couple have been trying for a couple of years and it still hasn't happened.
Anyway...just my thoughts.

Cameron said...

A couple things on that. The birthrate in the US is just over 2. That's hardly "too many" kids. Couple that with the UN study saying that the developed world, including the US, isn't having enough children, and this whole argument seems moot. Plus the statistics showing that this really isn't the reason people are getting abortions.

On adoption, I had a conversation on the Times-News message board about it last year. You can find the link on one of the posts I linked to here. The Dave Thomas foundation (the Wendy's guy-he was adopted) has done a lot of research on the subject, and they found that since WWII the demand for adoption grew so quickly that it outstripped supply. Total adoptions reached an all time high in 1970. (Sarcasm) Who knows what could have happened in the early 70's to cut the total number of adoptions, despite the demand remaining high (End Sarcasm). In any event, adoption demand continues to outstrip supply. The Dave Thomas Foundation estimates that 81.5 million people have considered adopting a child. The number one reason given for not doing so is long waiting lists.

George said...

The book "Freakanomics" has an interesting chapter on the relationship between crime rates in large cities and abortion rates. I suggest you read it or download it from I tunes if you have not done so already.

Salt H2O said...

1. The other day while listening to NPR they called the Pro-Life movement the "Anti-Choice" Movement. I almost slammed my fist into the radio

2. Pick up the book The Marketing of Evil. I know I'm a totla stranger but TRUST ME. You'll like it.

Victoria said...

I see. So we should all get abortions to prevent the crime rate from going up?? Ugh. Total NYT (non)sense.

Shellie said...

Hmmm...were they reading about MY kids when they made that comment? (Just kidding) What are they thinking? Just more people, more crime? I would never have drawn that conclusion.

Mark said...

There is never a valid reason to kill babies. Never. Not rape. Not incest. Never. If conceived by rape, which is highly improbable due to the traumatic nature of the crime, it is still not the baby's fault, so why punish the child with death? If incest, again, why punish the innocent child?

There is never a valid reason to kill babies.