James Miller

 

Friday, April 21, 2006

 

Abortion and Chastity

Can the Pro-Life people have it both ways?

We are now in the position in South Dakota, where abortion is to be banned. So many will think that this is a good thing, as abortion is taking a life.

I would argue that abortion is a sad thing, as it shows that something has gone wrong, rather than it is a definite choice. Would any woman who planned a baby want an abortion? Only where circumstances have changed drammatically or the baby would be severely handicapped perhaps.

But most of these Pro-Lifers are also against sex before marriage and a lot are against contraception. They may be able to behave responsibly, but what about those who can't.

As an aside here, we had three childen in four years. It is not difficult for many women to get pregnant!

So what we must do, is make sure that everybody has access to reliable contraception and they are fully educated about sex.

Then perhaps the need for abortion will fade away. But it must always be on the statute book and fully legal, as on balance, like many difficult issues, it does more good than harm.

But if South Dakota does ban abortion, then it will only ban it for the poor and those that can't can't afford to bring children up properly. Those with money will go abroad to Canada or Europe. So in fact one of the outcomes of an abortion ban, will be to produce more children, at the bottom end of the intelligence scale.

Do we really want to do that?