I'm speaking to teens about abortion--need input!

[Shirelle]

Hello all! I was wondering if I could get your help. I’m a 20-something, and I’m very active in my parish’s respect life committee. An acquaintance heard about me, and invited me to speak at “The Lock-in For Life” that they are having tomorrow night. I’ve been designated their Q&A person. The kids will field their questions about abortion to me, and I will answer as many as I can in 20 minutes. Our age range is 7th-12 grades, but most of the kids that come are in the 9th and 10th grades. Many of the kids are already solid in their pro-life beliefs, so some of the questions may come from that perspective. They will also be bringing friends who are not as sure about what they believe, so questions could come from that vantage point as well. The teaching they will recieve will not gloss over abortion at all–they will learn about fetal development, abortion procedures, church teaching, hear a testimonial, etc…so anything they want to ask is fair game.

Here is where I need some help. I would really like to get some questions prepared in advance…some of the more common ones, and I want to get an idea of what the typical teenager would ask about abortion. If any of you have teenaged kids, could you maybe ask them what questions they would have about abortion? No question is a silly, or obvious one…we will be talking to kids with varying degrees of knowledge on the subject. Feel free to PM me with the questions, if that makes you more comfortable.

Thanks so much!

 

[jmcrae]

Some of the standard questions that arise:

What about women who have been raped - why can’t they have abortions, since it is not their fault that they are pregnant?

ANSWER: First, it’s important to understand that Pregnancy is not a punishment for sex outside of marriage. Secondly, the person who needs to be punished for the rape is the rapist himself: not his child. Giving the Death Penalty to an innocent child will not cause the rape to go away, nor will it bring about any kind of real justice. Indeed, aborting the child is merely another, and even worse, violation of the woman’s body. And third (but most important), that child is a living human being, created on purpose and for a purpose by God, just as we all were, when we were that age.

What about women who have some kind of illness that can only be cured by aborting the baby?

First, there is no such illness. In most cases, if giving birth would be harmful to the mother, then having an abortion would probably be even worse for her, since the human female body is purposely designed for giving birth, but it is not designed to have abortions performed on it. The trauma from an abortion would probably be a lot worse than the trauma of giving birth.

That having been said, there are certain medical conditions, such as ectopic pregnancies and certain kinds of cancer that cannot be cured without, as a side effect, losing the unborn child.

However, there is a world of difference between the child dying as a result of an unavoidable accident, and the child dying by murder. The first is part of the sadness of living in a fallen world: the second is a terrible sin.

We must never set out deliberately to kill a child, but at the same time, if, in order to save a woman’s life, her unborn child is accidentally killed, we would not stand by and allow them both to die. But we would never be allowed to actually abort the child (kill it on purpose), even in that situation.

Medical technology is advancing to the point where even this will no longer be a realistic scenario, though, since we are able to save unborn children earlier and earlier all the time - perhaps one day soon, we will be able to simply move the child of an ectopic pregnancy into the womb where he belongs, so that he can grow and develop in the normal manner - and perhaps women with cancer will be able to save their children’s lives as well as their own with the new technologies that are coming out in cancer research.

 

[Kevin42]

(I just have questions, but no answers.)

Won’t it only increase the number of backyard ‘coathanger’ abortions? (if abortion was illegal)

Isn’t it better to abort a baby if it is going to grow up in a bad environment?

Shouldn’t healthcare decisions be dictated by the women, and not the rights of a cluster of cells?

The people who makes these laws have never been through what people needing an abortion have.

It’s not the woman’s fault though if the condom or contraceptive doesn’t work, why should she have to pay the price?

What if the child is going to have a severe disability?

These are the most common difficult questions that I have come upon.

 

[vern_humphrey]

(I just have questions, but no answers.)

Won’t it only increase the number of backyard ‘coathanger’ abortions? (if abortion was illegal)

We have no obligation to assist in murdering the child.

While there may well be a slight rise in backyard abortions, the overall number of abortions would go down – the easier a thing is to get, the more people will get them.

(Isn’t it better to abort a baby if it is going to grow up in a bad environment?

Would you take a big knife, and go to children growing up in a “bad environment” and kill them? Would that not be murder?

(Shouldn’t healthcare decisions be dictated by the women, and not the rights of a cluster of cells?

This is begging the question – this “cluster of cells” is as much of a human being as anyone here. If we allow this sort of thing, how long will it be before old people in nursing homes are put to death? (This is already happening in the Netherlands.)

How long will it be before drug addicts, alcoholics, and people with debilitating diseases are put to death?

(The people who makes these laws have never been through what people needing an abortion have.

In point of fact, most of them have. Many of us are parents, have seen hard times, and been in tough situations. To say, “nobody knows what I’m suffering” is a selfish way of looking at things – the kid who killed his schoolmates at Pearl, Mississippi used almost exactly the same words.

(It’s not the woman’s fault though if the condom or contraceptive doesn’t work, why should she have to pay the price?

It is her responsibility and her partner’s. It is not the baby’s responsibility – why should the baby be put to death for what it cannot congrol?

(What if the child is going to have a severe disability?

Would you take a big knife, and go to children with “severe disabilities” and kill them? Would that not be murder?

There is a program on the National Geographic Channel – at 8 Eastern time on Saturday or Sunday, I believe. That’s the program with the embroynic elephant, dolphin and puppy. Pro-abortionists are up in arms about it because it shows how the unborn baby is a lot more than “a cluster of cells.”

I recommend everyone watch it.

 

[PRmerger]

One thought you might consider when addressing all the questions:

Essentially any argument proposed FOR abortion could be applied to living children as well.

For example: what if a pregnant woman is too poor to afford the baby–shouldn’t she have the right to an abortion?
You can counter with: what if this woman is too poor to afford
her 3yr old twins? Should she be allowed to get rid of them?

 

[katiemonster]

Errr, I might be too late but…

Hi, I’m a teenager in a private all girls school.

Showing violent bloody pictures of baby parts is a no-no. The Pro-Life Club at my school enjoys shoving icky pictures at us. An extreme (and offense) turn off for me.

Common questions include whether or not you’d be damned to hell if having an abortion (whether intentionally or simply miscarrying), if abortion is forgivable, whether the procedure is painful/permanently damaging…basically, a lot of “me me me” questions. Granted, the baby is important too but…Self comes first, then comes baby.

It’s also important to see what they think first and then tell them what’s what.

Give both sides of the issue, too. I hate it when I’m told “____ is bad!” and why it’s bad…but I always ask why people still do it if it’s so terrible? I’ve taken a disliking to people who only give one side…just don’t treat the kids like they’re naive punks. You’ll get a better reaction.

-K

 

[StCsDavid]

God bless you for participating in this event. You might check out the questions on this page on Priestsforlife.org.

Also, be aware that the possibility exists that one or more of the girls in the audience may have experienced an abortion already. You might incorporate a mention of Racheal’s Vinyard.

 

[jmcrae]

These are all good points.

Errr, I might be too late but…

Hi, I’m a teenager in a private all girls school.

Showing violent bloody pictures of baby parts is a no-no. The Pro-Life Club at my school enjoys shoving icky pictures at us. An extreme (and offense) turn off for me.

Yes, abortions are very disgusting, aren’t they?

Common questions include whether or not you’d be damned to hell if having an abortion (whether intentionally or simply miscarrying), if abortion is forgivable, whether the procedure is painful/permanently damaging…basically, a lot of “me me me” questions. Granted, the baby is important too but…Self comes first, then comes baby.

We can always be forgiven by God, no matter how bad things get, when we repent. But we (and others) will still suffer from the consequences of our sins. Your future children will have less trust in you when they find out that you thought it was okay to kill their older brother or sister, for example.

Some of the physical consequences of an abortion include:

Higher risk of cancer, which is a very slow and painful way to be very very sick and not get to see your friends or do anything fun, often for years on end, until finally you die.

Just because it’s legal doesn’t magically make it safe: there are all kinds of medical complications that can occur, just as in any kind of major surgery - some of them include, if part of the baby accidentally gets left inside you, it could rot, and give you blood poisoning. Very painful way to die.

There’s also “dying of embarrassment”, since the left-behind baby body part could come out of you at some really embarrassing moment, like in the middle of your math class, or while you’re visiting over at your boyfriend’s house. Those ugly photographs they shove in your face are nothing compared to the real thing, right in front of people that you were hoping were going to like you.

If you happen to be allergic to the kind of plastic or metal that they use to rip up the baby, you could also go into anaphelactic shock right there in the abortion clinic - and they’d have to call your Mom to get permission to give you an epy pen. They don’t need her permission to give you the actual abortion itself, but for complications? They need your Mom to sign for that.

It’s also important to see what they think first and then tell them what’s what.

Give both sides of the issue, too. I hate it when I’m told “____ is bad!” and why it’s bad…but I always ask why people still do it if it’s so terrible?

Several reasons: it seems like a good way to hide the fact that you’ve been sleeping around; parents pressure you into getting an abortion because they think you’re too immature to handle the responsibility of a baby; boyfriend lets you know in no uncertain terms that he has no intentions of supporting either the baby or you; being pregnant will interfere with your education and/or career, and, somehow, delaying graduation by one semester seems like the end of the world.

But most women get pressured into having abortions by other people (teachers, parents, boyfriend), and they just don’t see any way out of it. It’s ironic that they call it “woman’s choice” because in most cases, it’s “boyfriend’s choice” or “Dad’s choice” rather than the woman’s own choice. Most women would prefer to let their children be born and then figure things out from there.