Excerpt: The Anti-Abortion Paradox

AlterNet
Cristina Page
February 17th, 2006
Link
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For the most part, pro-lifers tend to be absolutists. For them, you are either churchgoer or sinner, procreator or contraceptor, for the culture of life or for the culture of death. Pro-choicers, by contrast, tend to be more pragmatic.

For the pro-life movement, decision making is less complicated. For the unmarried, the right course is abstinence (which we'll discuss later). And for everyone, single or married, the right course never, ever leads to abortion. Unfortunately, if the goal is to reduce abortion, the pro-lifers' morally unambiguous strategies don't seem to work.

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The Silver Ring Thing, a national abstinence-only group, received more than $1 million in public funding from 2003 through 2005. Its mission was to saturate the United States with a generation of young people who had taken a vow of sexual abstinence until marriage. To symbolize their vow, teens agreed to wear a specially inscribed silver ring -- the inscription is a biblical verse. A complaint brought against the Department of Health and Human Services and the agency within it that oversees grants to abstinence-only programs charges that the federal government, by funding the group, improperly used public money to promote religion. The complaint states, "The Silver Ring thing is a ministry that uses abstinence education as a means to bring 'unchurched' students to Jesus Christ."

In a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) documentary, American Virgins, Silver Ring Thing executive director Dennis Pattyn explained what motivates him. "I believe that the end of the world is approaching very quickly, and I believe that Christ will come back," he said. The BBC reporter seemed surprised. If the end of the world is so close, then should we be all that worried about abstinence? Pattyn didn't miss a beat. "We're not really putting our energy into abstinence as much as we're putting it into faith," he explained. "Abstinence is the tool that we're using to reach children." For those looking for considered answers on how to navigate the sexual pressures of adolescence, you'd better buckle your seat belts. Sexual dalliance, like a failure to accept Christ, leads to a bumpy ride straight to hell, courtesy of taxpayer dollars. "In hell nonbelievers will be doomed to exist in unending torment with the Devil and his demons. … onbelievers will spend eternity in agony," Silver Ring Thingers learn. If you have chosen to reject Christ, then your final destination will be the lake of fire. In August 2005, in response to the complaint over inappropriate use of taxpayer money, the Department of Health and Human Services suspended funding to the group.

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my husband and I are youth group leaders in our church. More than one parent wanted us to look into this program! We refused. But there were several reasons. Obviously we found these nut balls to be offensive. But, it appears that this group of "virgins" have the highest rate of std's in the county. They do "it" every which way but Sunday and since they have not been taught about condoms and prevention... well.... hello long term health problems. We also told these parents politely that they needed to be the ones to talk to their children about s-e-x. They are afraid to!

Thanks for the link - I'll go read it now. :)

Oh that more Christians followed Christ....

that there are more abortions performed in countries where it is banned. I also found these statistics within the article interesting: 61% of women getting abortions are already moms; 40% are women who belong to "pro life" churches. It seems it is like my husband says: his "pro-life" men friends are really strident about it until they find out their mistress is pregnant. I don't know if this is a fair assessment of the attitude of the pro-lifers; I am certain that a lot of agony and soul-searching goes into the decision.

That being said, my feelings are that my attention should be about my own actions. It is not my place to judge or to tell another how to live their life.

birth control, but all other methods should be taught as well. We're talking about teenagers here, for the most part, and isn't the job of parents and teachers to prepare children how to make decisions for themselves and then take the responsibility for those decisions? To borrow a quote from Dr. Phil: "We're raising adults, not children."

Knowledge is the key. They deserve to have truthful and complete information about birth control and prevention of STD's so they can make informed decisions that could affect them for the rest of their lives. They should also have easy access to safe, reliable birth control methods (including the morning after pill available OTC) if they choose to engage in sexual activity.

I have no qualms either about abstinence education, but there needs to be straightforward, honest information about sexual eduation, disease prevention, pregnancy, etc. If all they're taught is that condoms are no good at preventing pregnancy or HIV/AIDS, then when they do have sex they'll figure "Why worry?".

which means more followers down the line. This is nothing new and has been around since the beginning in Rome.

Of course, once a kid is born, many of these "anti-abortion" nuts could care less about them.

Unfortunately, if the goal is to reduce abortion, the pro-lifers' morally unambiguous strategies don't seem to work.


Because their strategies are woefully inadequate, full of lies/half-truths, and therefore basically useless. Teaching abstinence is good, but only if it is part of a comprehensive program that includes all other forms of birth control, as well as matter of fact information about sex, STDs and HIV, pregnancy and other necessary information.

But as usual, the right-wingers want to obfuscate everything with their religion.