Abortion
A couple of things strike me about an ongoing debate about abortion. The first concerns a claim by proponents that it wouldn’t be as “needed” if there were better education programs regarding safe sex and/or birth control.
As a refutation, I point to this story, which really just exemplifies a trend that has been taking place for some time now. STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) are making a comeback, including AIDS, which is one of the most over-politicized diseases in history. This is despite the fact that safe sex programs have been pushed around for years. Fully aware of the potential consequences, people are still engaging in unsafe practices and STDs are not only making a comeback, but are coming back more resistant to most of the drugs commonly used to fight them off.
In my opinion, safe sex programs won’t do the trick because these still tacitly encourage sexual activity. Instead of pushing for people to have sex “safely”, why not encourage them to practice the best form of birth control that happens to also be the best defense against acquiring “social souvenirs” – abstinence? Is it fun? No, it certainly doesn’t provide the instant gratification we in western civilization have come to expect from life. Does it teach self control? Yes! Does it teach people to value things more than their own ids? Again, Yes! We as a civilization need to pull back from the instinctive urge to please our own base desires, an urge exacerbated by the abundant means to do so. Human dignity demands it.
The second issue is the clamor about “rights”. I believe I may have found the best answer to this on the Godless Pro-Lifers site. The opening statement of one atheist’s position is as follows:
On a side note, I quote from this site for two purposes. The first is because it is so apt. The second is to show that the pro-life crowd is not composed solely of “religious nuts” as several pro-choicers/pro-abortionists would have you believe.
Here’s another telling quote from the same site:
I send my profound thanks to these atheists for stating so logically what all people should realize. The issue of abortion involves not only the rights of women, but also the rights of the innocent children within their wombs. Like it or not, those are humans inside and as such are deserving of all the rights, dignity, and protection that we would bestow upon a born child. It’s truly saddening that this point even needs to be explained.
As a refutation, I point to this story, which really just exemplifies a trend that has been taking place for some time now. STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) are making a comeback, including AIDS, which is one of the most over-politicized diseases in history. This is despite the fact that safe sex programs have been pushed around for years. Fully aware of the potential consequences, people are still engaging in unsafe practices and STDs are not only making a comeback, but are coming back more resistant to most of the drugs commonly used to fight them off.
In my opinion, safe sex programs won’t do the trick because these still tacitly encourage sexual activity. Instead of pushing for people to have sex “safely”, why not encourage them to practice the best form of birth control that happens to also be the best defense against acquiring “social souvenirs” – abstinence? Is it fun? No, it certainly doesn’t provide the instant gratification we in western civilization have come to expect from life. Does it teach self control? Yes! Does it teach people to value things more than their own ids? Again, Yes! We as a civilization need to pull back from the instinctive urge to please our own base desires, an urge exacerbated by the abundant means to do so. Human dignity demands it.
The second issue is the clamor about “rights”. I believe I may have found the best answer to this on the Godless Pro-Lifers site. The opening statement of one atheist’s position is as follows:
The purpose of abortion is not merely pregnancy termination; its purpose is to kill, to take the life of prenatal human offspring. Under justice, however, there is no such thing as a ~right~ to kill innocent people – no exceptions.
On a side note, I quote from this site for two purposes. The first is because it is so apt. The second is to show that the pro-life crowd is not composed solely of “religious nuts” as several pro-choicers/pro-abortionists would have you believe.
Here’s another telling quote from the same site:
As I contemplate the Declaration of Independence on the anniversary of its signing, I am chastened by the tragic fact that too many Americans are denied their "unalienable rights" of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Ironically, these same rights are used as an argument for alienating these oppressed and persecuted Americans from their rights as human beings. These Americans are the more than one million preborn children violently killed annually by abortion.
I send my profound thanks to these atheists for stating so logically what all people should realize. The issue of abortion involves not only the rights of women, but also the rights of the innocent children within their wombs. Like it or not, those are humans inside and as such are deserving of all the rights, dignity, and protection that we would bestow upon a born child. It’s truly saddening that this point even needs to be explained.
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