Friday, November 10, 2006

The impact of abortion on our moral values in politics and society


How is it that we have lost our way? Folks my age and a tad older can remember getting up in the morning, riding our bike down the street collecting pop bottles, turning them in at the store, and using the money to buy baseball cards, or candy, or whatever our hearts desired at that moment for fifteen cents.

Now, parents are too frightened to allow their child to ride their bikes farther than a block or so.

Whatever happened to the good ol' days?

I'll tell you what happened. Violence walks our streets because life means nothing to people anymore. God has been removed from our lives, and the value of life has been cheapened.

Yes, I am a Christian, and many of my readers know this, but this is not a Christian post. This article is about more than God. It is about the root of the problem that has created liberals, and political correctness, and the degeneration of our moral values.

A huge part of the beginning of our downfall was Roe vs. Wade.

Abortion.

I can hear the comments coming already. "How dare you challenge a woman's right to choose."

I know that abortion, and morality, and God are touchy subjects. But they need to be discussed. If we are to save America from the liberal attack, these issues must be discussed. I understand that there are a number of conservatives that could care less about God. That's fine. You are entitled to your opinion, and to your own belief. I will not threaten your right to believe in yours, please don't threaten me to believe in mine.

According to the CDC, a total of 857,475 legally induced abortions were reported for 2000 in the United States alone. In 2002, the number was 854,122. This is not even counting illegal abortions, or improperly reported numbers. The United States alone allows nearly a million abortions per year. Worldwide, that number climbs to 46 million.

Why all this talk about abortion? Well, think about it. Whether your belief that the aborted human material is an unborn child, or simply a disposable fetus, the fact is, that embryo is on its way to becoming an innocent, loving, breathing child. By legalizing the death of our unborn children, we have cheapened the value of human life.

During the late nineties, Susan Smith, of South Carolina drowned her two young sons. A woman from Macon, Georgia smothered her daughter, dumped her body and fabricated an abduction story. We regularly read about newborns abandoned in toilets and dumpsters. More recently man allegedly slammed his infant son's head against pavement and a woman allegedly cut her 11-year-old son's throat.

Why would these people do this? Even in the wild animals protect their young from harm. Have we convinced parents to let go of their parental instincts by cheapening the value of human life with practices such as abortion?

The Roe v. Wade decision on January 22, 1973 authorized unrestricted first-trimester abortions in all states. "A Woman's Choice" became the euphemism for choosing economic or social convenience over the life of an unborn child. The rare medical dilemma reasons for an abortion in order to protect the mother's life is now an insignificant percentage of all abortions performed.

Abortion diminishes the value of human life. I believe that this act, in turn, diminishes our moral values, and increases the frequency of anti-social behaviors of all kinds. Since Roe v. Wade, we've seen increasing numbers of remorseless killings, an increase in the gang banger culture and "thug" attitude, and we have seen wider exceptance for suicidal thinking. At first this new attitude in society was shocking, but now, after being immersed by it for over thirty years, we have become numbed to these reports of senseless violence and random evil.

Violence against anybody is horrible as it is. But violence against our children affects us on a deeper level because most of us have a built-in instinct to protect our innocent little ones.

In politics, the left claims that we must increase taxes so that we may accomplish this or that "for the children."

Yet, these same politicians support abortion, and some even support "Partial birth abortion", which is killing an infant half way through the birth canal. Anybody can see that there is no medical or health-of-the-mother justification for this procedure. Defending partial birth abortion for any reason is irrational, and goes to show how far we have gone in the willingness to kill our children, and throw away life.

Terrorist attacks such as 9/11, and natural disasters like Katrina are dramatized by the mainstream media in order to evoke intense emotions and to urge the common citizen to criticize our government, and to demand increased security, safety or preventive measures.

But 46 million abortions worldwide per year is not enough to vault us into immediate action?

God weeps each time an unborn child is sacrificed in the name of choice. Our rights stop where the next person's rights begin. I believe that unborn children should have the right to choose life.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Are you suggesting that a fire that destroys hundreds of embryos in a feritlity clinic is an equal tradgedy to a fire in a day care center that kills dozens of 2 and 3 year olds?

Are you suggesting that a miscarriage is equal to the death of a 10 year old?

Anonymous said...

Shall I have to speak of my two ectopic pregnancies that had to be terminated, otherwise I would have died. (Perhaps you people (not you DG) think that when a fetus dies the pregnant woman should too? I'm not saying, I'm just asking.)

David Odeen said...

M K is anything scared to you? he said nothing of mothers with medical conditions that would endanger them. Goodness, always so reactive!

Anonymous said...

I'm impressed... excellent coming from a male. :)

Anonymous said...

mudkitty is illogical. She can't differentiate between murder and accidental death.

And these people vote.

God help us.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and excellent post, Doug. You're right on target when you show the connection between abortion and the increase of violence upon children.

Life has become cheap in our society.

Anonymous said...

So many of you wingnuts claim that there are no medical reasons for abortion. Don't pretend I'm the crazy one.

Anonymous said...

Ever heard of an ectopic pregnancy? I suppose you would have prefered I had, along with millions of other women, died?

*****

Oh, sorry - you wrote "is" when it should have been "are." But you know, there are a lot of wingnuts who actually believe that crap.

*****

Did you know that the Bush's used in-vitro, which is how they got twins, after 10 years of infertility? Why don't you ask them about their left over embyos?

Anonymous said...

mudkitty,

We don't have to pretend that you're the crazy one. Look at your comments.

Unhinged, illogical, guttersniping... Nope, if anyone is pretending, it's you. After all that's what "actresses" do, right?

Douglas V. Gibbs said...

As a result of this article, and the comments, my daughter and I got into a long conversation about this. If you'll remember a few articles ago she had questions about an ad running against McClintock accusing him of being pro-life (which he is, and I agree with him of course) and MudKitty's comments about procedures involving mothers-in-danger came up. First, this is a small percentage of abortions, and most don't even get listed as such because in most cases the child's life is in danger as well - - in which case it makes sense to end the child's life because if that procedure is not conducted both mother and child will die. That, in my opinion, is not an abortion in the sense of what I am addressing in this article, it is an emergency medical procedure. As for the ectopic pregnancy referred to by mudkitty, once again, this lies outside the realm of your classic abortion, and is more of an emergency medical procedure, since in most cases an ectopic pregnancy never develops into a live birth. For those unaware of what an ectopic pregnancy is, in an ectopic pregnancy, a fertilized egg has implanted outside the uterus. Most often the place of settlement is in the fallopian tubes. This is why ectopic pregnancies are commonly called "tubal pregnancies." The egg can also implant in the ovary, abdomen, or the cervix, so you may see these referred to as cervical or abdominal pregnancies.

None of these areas has as much space or nurturing tissue as a uterus for a pregnancy to develop. As the fetus grows, it will eventually burst the organ that contains it.

Bushwack said...

Doug, I see you have met Mudkitty, a Moonbat of the highest order.

This is an issue best solved by compromise, In the event of Rape, Incest or life endangerment of the mother abortion should be allowed. However we know how that would turn out.

Every idiot that put one night of pleasure in place of common sense, would claim rape or incest, and that would tie up courts with baseless claims.

As far as Mudkitty, get used to the far left ideology coupled with extremely low moral fibre from this "lady of Frisco".....

Anonymous said...

I don't think you've been able to connect kids not being able to ride their bikes to the gas station on their own to get a pop with or to abortion.

With respect, it is a bit of a leap of logic to suggest abortion is at the heart of all violence in society.

Even if abortion was abolished tomorrow, I'm betting we'd still have the same number of rapists, murders, muggers, pedos etc in business.

If you don't believe in abortion-fair enough, but your argument against abortion argument is diminished by blaming all of society's ills on it.

Anonymous said...

bushwack:

There is no compromise for children of rape. The whole argument against abortion (and I agree with Doug regarding medical abortions to save the mother's life) is the fact that the unborn child is a HUMAN BEING. If that child is a human being he or she has a RIGHT TO LIVE as you or I or anyone else walking around in our nation.

The child who is conceived from rape (and let me say that it's a rare case among the MILLIONS of abortions that have been conducted) is not to blame. That child is innocent. Why should an innocent human die from another's crime?

Face it. If the unborn child is a human being, then there is no argument other than saving the mother's life which can justify deliberate murder of that child. Abortion is a convenience. It's about a retroactive form of birth control.

It's not about "choice". If the Liberals really believed that then they would support school vouchers and homeschooling. They don't.

Douglas V. Gibbs said...

Kris, you are right. Violence would not disappear overnight. But what has brought us to this point is the cheapening of the value of life. Now that we've crossed the line, even if abortion stopped this day, it would take generations to repair the damage to society attitudes. However, I believe that to eliminate the need for abortion is the way to eliminate abortion. Birth control, common sense, etc. As Atheling2 said, abortion has become a convenience, a form of retroactive birth control. How can that be good? I think we need to rethink our morals, and remember the commandment, Thou Shalt Not Kill - - - and for you peace activists that commandment is negated in war and self-defense.

Anonymous said...

A termination of a pregnacy is an abortion, even if it does take place in the context of an ectopic pregnancy. Let's get real folks.

All birth controll, except the barrier method, and the very ineffective rythem method, is a form of abortion. The ternination of the gestation of a ferilized egg. Whether implanted in the womb, or not.

Birth controll is no one else's business. If abortion is birth controll, it's none of your business anyway.

And as far as San Fransico is concerned...I'm not from there, nor do I live there. But I do know that without it's port, this country would be a lot worse off, and that the history of the Great West has much to do with the developement of San Fransico. I love how people who claim to love America, know little of it's history. Cherry pickers.

And futhermore, people from San Fransico are every bit as much American as any one of you here.

I love how you rightwingers claim to love America, yet hate your fellow Americans, just because they happen to disagree with you politically.

While were going to let fetuses choose, why don't we let them vote? Cheap sentiment.

kris said...

"and for you peace activists that commandment is negated in war and self-defense".

Having served in the armed forces for 8 years, I would hardly describe myself as a peace activist. I remain intrigued by your logic. Surely any violence begets violence. Your thinking is quite similar to the amish approach- which I can understand- but then you say there are exceptions to the rule.

Upon what basis do you believe that the war and self-defence exemptions for thou shall not kill. Is that just "just" wars? Whose justice? Is God always on your/America's side?

I too believe violence begets violence. Paybacks are a bitch. How far of a payback is too far? Abu Ghrab? I'm not being funny, but those "little" acts of violence and humilation are at the root of a whole shit-storm of retaliation- perhaps more so than the number of USA abortions...

So why target abortion?

Douglas V. Gibbs said...

Why target abortion?

Simply because I believe that unborn children have as much of a right to life as we do. God knew us before we were born, and a life in a mother's stomach, though it is dependent upon the mother, is still a life. Since I was unable to survive on my own when I was in a coma in 1985 for three months, would you have pulled the plug then? After all, how could I have been human? I couldn't survive on my own yet.

kris said...

Dear Douglas, You haven't answered my questions.

As for your coma question and pulling the plug- of course not. But then you will be aware that as the heart of the abortion debate is "when does life begin?" Obviously, you life had begun. The issue is does life begin before birth. I'm thinking you would say life begins at conception. Fair enough.

But when life begins does not explain your rebuttable presumption. So have a go at answering my questions and let's see how the logic of your argument that abortion is at the heart of violence in society stands up.

Douglas V. Gibbs said...

Kris, I need to move on to other articles, so I will try to resolve this in this comment. When does life begin? You are correct, my answer is at conception. If it began halfway through I find it hard to swallow that a fetus is not a baby one day, and then suddenly is the next - As for emergency procedures and birth control methods and the like, I don't see those as abortions because I don't view this issue in that kind of absolutes. There are times when the mother's life is in danger, and the baby would not survive anyway because of that, that terminating the pregnancy is necessary because saving one life is of course the logical course of action over losing both lives. As for how I believe that abortion is one of the many factors (and a major factor at that) regarding the deterioration of our society into gaining an ambiguous attitude toward life in general, I guess I must use another analogy. For those familiar with psychology, a psuedo-science I sometimes agree with but disagree with for the most part (my wife, however, is two classes from a degree in psychology and believes that it can be used in the Christian arena), we realize that we are products of our environment. Abused children most often become abusers. Children from alcoholic parents usually become alcoholics. Children raised in a drug environment most often become drug users. Children who grow up in gang infested neighborhoods will more likely become hoodlums, and kids raised in traditional households with both parents still married have better odds of a long marriage than those coming from broken homes. Now, in a society where babies (including the time of pregnancy) was once a special time, a revered time, suddenly it is nothing to terminate those pregnancies, more often than not for the basic reasons of mere convenience. Don't go absolute on me. I understand that there are special circumstances, but those special circumstances do not dominate the abortion world. As a society we kill our unborn children without as much as a tear. Now, our children can have abortions without the parents even knowing about it. What kind of message do you think that sends? Is life no longer precious? Is pregnancy no longer revered? As a result of this violent tendency toward our unborn children, the growth of this attitude has spilled over into other things - hence the increase of violent crimes, etc.

I don't think abortion is at the heart of violence in society alone. There are many factors attributing to this. Abortion, however, is one of the major factors, if not the largest.

Thanks for visiting, Kris, and your comments are welcome. Please read my other articles. Maybe you'll learn something.

Anonymous said...

Gibbs, I think it's an insult to compare a human being on life support to an embryo or fetus.

Anonymous said...

Which is a worse tragedy...? A misscarriage, the or death of a 2 year old. Ask any mother, and she'll tell you. No comparison. No comparison.

So if you had to choose the life of a woman or an embryo, the only reason you'd chose to save the woman (in the case of an ectopic) is because the embryo or fetus would die anyway?

Scary Doug. I don't believe you really meant it.

Douglas V. Gibbs said...

Insulting? Who am I insulting? I was the one on life support. Am I insulting myself?

Worse tragedy. The mother and the child are equal. Both are lives. There can be no choice but to attempt to save both. However, now listen carefully, more often than not mother-in-danger scenarios most often will kill both, so obviously the logical course of action is to terminate the life of the child to save the mother. Better to save one life than neither. That's just common sense. That, to me, is not the issue of abortion we are talking about, and has no business in the equation. Abortion has become, regardless of those uncommon instances of the mother being in danger, a form of convenient, retroactive birth control, and I cannot condone throwing away the life of an unborn child just because the pregancy is inconvenient. How about these women show a little responsibility and don't get pregnant with an unwanted pregnancy in the first place.

Anonymous said...

So you really think a miscarriage is equal to the death of a 2 year old? Or ten year old? Or your wife? I don't think you'll find many mothers or women who agree. You may find a few, and I would venture to say that they might have some "needing attention issues."

Anonymous said...

How people get pregnant, and how they conduct their birth controll is not your business.

Anonymous said...

You didn't answer the question, FTGF.