You Can Be Christian and Vote For A Democrat - PART 3
Posted: Monday, November 03, 2008
by Dan Bimrose
Liberal Fix
I have heard that if we elect John McCain then God will take care of the rest. I have heard that if Obama is elected that it would be bad. God will punish us. We will certainly be blessed under McCain and Palin.
That is their solution to the failing economy and our 9 straight months of job loss.
I have even heard comments come from the same "good" Christian mouth that they were actually voting for Palin and then express hope that if McCain were elected that he would get shot. The last 16 years tells a vastly different story about God's blessings.
Yet under President Clinton who was very protectionist of abortion rights our economy flourished and an attempt to bring down the twin towers by Osama Bin Laden failed. Were we blessed because of that President and his views on abortion? Is the reason why we were successful as a nation because God endorsed our immoral, adulterous President. That would be an idiotic statement to make.
When two opposing sides attempt to argue their point they usually come armed with at least one crucial tool. They need something to support their argument and most often they use statistics. The problem with statistics is that the results can be manipulated. Each side uses their own controls when gathering their statistics and when they need a statistic to support their argument they go out and get it.
Case in point, the one statistic that I have been hearing that I find particularly hard to believe is one used by the pro-life side which states that it is not the young and poor that are getting abortions it is the well to do women in their mid-30's. I assure you there are many, many more studies to suggest the opposite.
The dilemna is that a person must wade through all the reports to find the truth. It is almost impossible to do this. Thus I will cite very few statistics in these articles.
I will provide a link to a story written by a reporter, Todd Benson from Reuters, who has no apparent agenda and describes what Brazil is going through and why they are likely going to end their ban on abortion, and allow limited abortion.
Brazil's population is roughly 80% Catholic. While many evangelical Christians do not like Catholics no one can question their opposition to abortion. For a country like to consider allowing abortion in restricted cases there must be considerable problems associated with their ban. I assure you there is. Follow the link to the article here (http://www.banderasnews.com/0601/nw-battlebrazil.htm)
Possibly the most telling part of this article is the following two paragraphs.
"Although abortion is outlawed in except in rare circumstances, the country has one of the highest abortion rates in the developing world. The Health Ministry estimates that 31 percent of all pregnancies end in abortion. That works out to about 1.4 million abortions a year, mostly clandestine.
In the US, where abortion was legalized in 1973, about 25 percent of all pregnancies end in abortion. In the Netherlands, a country with some of the world's most liberal abortion laws, the ratio is closer to 10 percent."
My point is simply that there are many things one must consider when deciding the best way to reduce abortions. The rate of abortions is often less in countries where it is free. Is not the ultimate goal less abortions.
I am not arguing that abortion should be unrestricted and free to all. It is just that many people have this vision of the US after abortion is outlawed that is a little unrealistic. We live in a nation and a world of sins. Sin will still be plentiful.
On the day that Roe V Wade is overturned there will be much celebration. That day and the following days thousands of abortion will be performed.
On the day that there is a constitutional ban on abortion there will be thousands of abortions being performed. While people are partying and patting themselves on the back they should really be sleeping and getting as must rest as possible because their job just became that much harder.
The clinics and the methods "abortionists" use will now be underground. You will not be able to find them. Where will the pro-lifers picket? Or will they deem it unnecessary since it is illegal and no one is having abortions anymore.
While there are several real world examples that abortion bans did not result in less abortions there are also real world examples that outlawing certain acts does not work.
Take prohibition or our failed drug war. A teenager can find a joint much faster than they can find alcohol. Why is this?
The black market is far more efficient than we can imagine. The second a constitutional ban were to be ratified the pro choice activist will begin to set up the networks necessary to continue allowing the women the option of an abortion. You may say, but at least legitimate doctors will not be involved. How many terminally ill people did Dr. Kevorkian publically euthanize before he was put in prison. He did it because he believed so strongly that it was compassionate.
The same wealthy women that pro-life people say are the vast majority of the source of abortions will be able to use these underground and presumably safe clinics.
The few poor or under-aged people will go to google to learn how to perform their own abortion or even worse turn to criminals.
The criminals will not require these women to obtain permission from their mother or father. They will not require that they have to watch a video to understand the ramifications of what they are doing. They will not require that they have to be supplied with information about the option of adoption. The only thing they will require is money.
I am not arguing the point that abortion should not be illegal. I do not think that women should have the right to choose I just think they will choose anyway. There are real world examples to support this.
The point is that there are things we could be doing now to dramatically reduce the number of abortions but are not.
Read the following paragraph from this article http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/rosellam/family_planning.html
"In the Netherlands, the abortion rate is about one-third of Canada's despite abortions being free and easily available from non-profit clinics (after a six-day waiting period). They and countries like Belgium, Germany and Switzerland, have had this kind of success because the legalisation of abortion was combined with a strong sex education program, readily available contraception information and, in some places, free contraceptive products, developing a "family planning culture" which resulted in reduced abortion numbers."
The religious right will not agree with this because they will never suggest that birth control should be acceptable. Abstinence is the only way. We must tell people not to have sex.
This is the real world. People will and do have sex. The cause of abortions is unintended pregnancies. That is it. You can argue that unless you propose legislation to create this "family planning culture" you are in favor of doing little to prevent abortions, legal or illegal.
The ultimate goal is the lowest rate of abortion possible. We should utilize any method we have to accomplish this and not rely on just one action or one political office to ease our collective conscious.
Dan Bimrose is the creator of coffeeandprozac.com which features daily Opinions, Editorials, and Stories and the website tuesdaysreleases.com which is devoted to recently released DVD movies.
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