Nicely written article overall Steve. I particularly appreciate this paragraph: "If you’re a Christian and opposed to abortion (which you should be as a spiritual practice), but you condemn the scared teenager who gets one, or shames the pregnant girl at a high school, or looks down at the promiscuous teen who fails to practice abstention or use contraception, you’re a Pharisee. You’re the one who wouldn’t accompany Jesus to the Gates of Hell because the place is associated with pagan goat sex and child sacrifice."
My observation is that over the past few decades the pro-life movement has largely come to recognize that a woman who wants and/or receives an abortion does not deserve condemnation or judgment, but is in need of compassion, understanding and perhaps counseling (which does not mean the person offering the compassion, understanding and counseling needs to agree with the choice of the woman). This has been a step in the right direction for the pro-life movement and this is the way to win hearts and minds to the pro-life position IMO.
May 5, 2022·edited May 5, 2022Liked by Chris J. Karr
I think you take the wrong point from the history of abortion: the point being that women have since time immemorial seeked out abortion for various reasons, using various methods and "medicines".
I really am baffled as the desire to insert government into this matter from a conservative standpoint, as it removes agency and self-determination from women. Do you not trust women to make decisions for their own lives?
You don't know if a pregnancy is a healthy one or not, without modern medical care - which, if I recall correctly, those opposed to abortion are often also opposed to the ACA or universal healthcare.
My wife had preeclampsia both pregnancies: it was detected via routine testing at her 36-week checkups. Both situations involved inducing delivery. Without those routine tests, my wife and possibly my child would have died.
Simply being anti-abortion is not pro-life: you also need to provide routine medical care before, during, and after pregnancy. Just reducing supply, not demand - and that's going to lead to a lot of pain.
Nicely written article overall Steve. I particularly appreciate this paragraph: "If you’re a Christian and opposed to abortion (which you should be as a spiritual practice), but you condemn the scared teenager who gets one, or shames the pregnant girl at a high school, or looks down at the promiscuous teen who fails to practice abstention or use contraception, you’re a Pharisee. You’re the one who wouldn’t accompany Jesus to the Gates of Hell because the place is associated with pagan goat sex and child sacrifice."
My observation is that over the past few decades the pro-life movement has largely come to recognize that a woman who wants and/or receives an abortion does not deserve condemnation or judgment, but is in need of compassion, understanding and perhaps counseling (which does not mean the person offering the compassion, understanding and counseling needs to agree with the choice of the woman). This has been a step in the right direction for the pro-life movement and this is the way to win hearts and minds to the pro-life position IMO.
I think you take the wrong point from the history of abortion: the point being that women have since time immemorial seeked out abortion for various reasons, using various methods and "medicines".
I really am baffled as the desire to insert government into this matter from a conservative standpoint, as it removes agency and self-determination from women. Do you not trust women to make decisions for their own lives?
You don't know if a pregnancy is a healthy one or not, without modern medical care - which, if I recall correctly, those opposed to abortion are often also opposed to the ACA or universal healthcare.
My wife had preeclampsia both pregnancies: it was detected via routine testing at her 36-week checkups. Both situations involved inducing delivery. Without those routine tests, my wife and possibly my child would have died.
Simply being anti-abortion is not pro-life: you also need to provide routine medical care before, during, and after pregnancy. Just reducing supply, not demand - and that's going to lead to a lot of pain.