Mormonism's attitude towards abortion

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RebeccaJ said:
Probably has a lot to do with the abortion laws. Utah has some of the strictest in the country. And coincidently, match to what mormons believe.

A woman in Utah can have an abortion in the case of rape, the mother’s health is in danger or the fetus is not viable.

No abortion as a form of “contraceptive”, which in all likelihood is the reason for the majority of all abortions in the US.
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Valke2 said:
I don’t believe you are correct in either your assumption that tough laws in Utah are coincidental with the fact that there is a large Mormon population there, or that the laws themselves prohibit abortion to those circumstances which you listed.

Here is what I found on Utah law:

In Utah, the following restrictions on abortion were in effect as of December 2005:

The parent of a minor must be notified before an abortion is provided.
A woman must receive state-directed counseling that includes information designed to discourage her from having an abortion and then wait 24 hours before the procedure is provided.

Public funding is available for abortion only in cases of life endangerment, physical health, rape, incest or fetal abnormality.

THat is a big difference from what you posted.

guttmacher.org/pubs/sfaa/utah.html
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Isnt that exactly what she said?:confused:
 
zerinus said:
That is not impossible, but very unusual nowadays. Bishops are usually released after serving for four or five years. It is possible, however, for someone to be called to serve as a bishop more than once—usually after the lapse of several years. But it is very unusual for someone to serve as a bishop continuously for fourteen years. Perhaps you can explain what makes your case such an exceptional one.

zerinus
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I also found his statement just a little unbelieveable. 14 years does seem like a long time and very highly unusual. The stress on family would be immense. I tend to doubt his statement.
 
why_me said:
This is soooo true. We need to give the mormons credit where credit is due. A great deal has to do with education. The catholic church can fail when it comes to educating its members. To my knowledge there are no religious instruction for adults in the catholic church. And it is here that we have the problem. Catholics can be a loose band of people when it comes to their own catholicism.
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A lot of that may have to do with the size of the Church. Mormons have the advantage of having much smaller numbers in a much smaller space, so it must be easier to keep a cohesive and consistent level of education about the faith and how to live.
 
wifeandmomoftwo said:
Isnt that exactly what she said?:confused:
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No. She said the only way to get an abortion was if one is raped, in physical danger… But that’s not true. Any woman can get an abortion in Utah. The difference is that she can’t get public funding unless she was raped, in physical danger… etc.
 
wifeandmomoftwo said:
*I*n 2000, there were 4 abortion providers in Utah.

This might have something to do with the low abortion rate in Utah.
guttmacher.org/pubs/sfaa/utah.html
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It’s similar to the Muslim claim of low rates of alcoholism in Muslim Nations. They use it to show Muslims as holier without mentioning alcohol is illegal and may carry a death sentence.

Seriously, I agree that it is more a sign of knowing what you beleive and practicing it. Someone mentioned a lack of adult studies in the Catholic Church. The truth is there are classes offered in almost every parish, they are just not utilized. You couple that with years of poor teaching of the young and in the homilies and you get poorly educated Catholics.

I have said for years, and angered many, that abortion as an industry would end if Christians would stop getting them.
 
Valke2 said:
I think you are mistaken, in that while there were only 4 abortion providers, they had more than four abortion clinics. The article states that there was only one city at the time where there was no provider present.
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Valke2 said:
I think you are mistaken, in that while there were only 4 abortion providers, they had more than four abortion clinics. The article states that there was only one city at the time where there was no provider present.
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In 2000, 93% of Utah counties had no abortion provider
Same source as above.

What you are not grasping it seems is that in UT it is not that easy to get an abortion if one wanted one.
 
Valke2 said:
I don’t believe you are correct in either your assumption that tough laws in Utah are coincidental with the fact that there is a large Mormon population there, or that the laws themselves prohibit abortion to those circumstances which you listed.

Here is what I found on Utah law:

In Utah, the following restrictions on abortion were in effect as of December 2005:

The parent of a minor must be notified before an abortion is provided.
A woman must receive state-directed counseling that includes information designed to discourage her from having an abortion and then wait 24 hours before the procedure is provided.

Public funding is available for abortion only in cases of life endangerment, physical health, rape, incest or fetal abnormality.

THat is a big difference from what you posted.

guttmacher.org/pubs/sfaa/utah.html
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You are correct with the law.

Though, I don’t think you have a grasp of Utah politics. Laws related to morality are heavily influenced by the mormon church itself, not just people who are of the mormon religion who vote according to their conscience. Transparency is an issue at times in Utah.

Every legislative year there are abortion bills, all aimed at tighter restrictions. Some have passed, only to be declared unconstitutional. The last 2007 session had a bill that stipulated when roe vs wade was overturned, a new law would go into immediate effect that banned all abortions, with the exception of risk to the mothers health and rape or incest. This bill did not pass.

le.utah.gov/~2007/bills/hbillint/hb0235s02.htm

In the case of funding…the law is so strict that some health providers have refused to perform abortions out of fear of losing their medical licenses.

I do agree, abortion rates are lower among mormons for the very reason that a practicing mormon would not likely, if ever, choose abortion as a form of birth control.
 
why_me said:
Thank you for the post. What I find amazing is the self righteousness that is in this thread when it comes to comments about the mormons. Catholics need to get off their high horse and educate their fellow catholics not to have an abortion. **I am sure that more catholics (per capita) have abortions than mormons. **

The mormon church has a good policy about abortion.
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Prove that please.
 
Valke2 said:
Well, that seems like the height of hyprocisy to me. Mormons are very pro-life and the fact is that by practicing what the preach, the abortion rate is much lower in their communities than in Christian communities. It seems to me to be the height of arrogance, under these circumstances, to believe that Catholicism is superior to Mormonism when using sanctity of life as a yardstick.
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No, you need to realize it is about comparing THEIR best to OUR best. There are many Catholics who are living obediently to what the Church teaches and in fact the Catholic Church leads the pro-life movement by a long shot, every other group is insignificant (by a long shot) compared to the Catholic Church pro-life presence.

Most of all you CANT point to “bad” Catholics or “bad” Mormons to make a case, you must look at the doctrines each institution teaches. It is plainly obvious that the LDS dont have the theological backing to realize that a human life can never be murdered, the Catholic Church does have this foundation and that is why the Catholic Church solidly stands. The LDS “pro-life” stand is more along the lines of convenience rather than moral theology and could shift at any moment.

Check out this story:
closedcafeteria.blogspot.com/2007/12/abortion-50.html
Mitt Romney can support abortion legislation AND STILL be a Mormon in good standing. A Catholic politician CANNOT support abortion legislation and if they do they are in a state of mortal sin (their eternal soul is in jeopardy) and they face the further penalty of excommunication.
BIG DIFFERENCE!
 
Valke2 said:
It seems to me to be the height of arrogance, under these circumstances, to believe that Catholicism is superior to Mormonism when using sanctity of life as a yardstick.
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The purpose of this thread is not to compare Catholicism and Mormonism using sanctity of life as a yardstick. The purpose of this thread is to discuss Mormonism’s attitude toward abortion.

Mormon belief in the sanctity of life has only an indirect connection to the Mormon stand against abortion. According to Mormonism, sanctity of life does not apply to the unborn while they remain in their unborn state. It is reserved for those already born. Despite the fact they are alive and growing, Mormonism teaches that the unborn only have the potential for life.

I would like to know, according to Mormonism, what makes a human life more worthy of defence at the moment of birth?
 
why_me said:
Catholics need to get off their high horse and educate their fellow catholics not to have an abortion.
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Agreed. And Mormons need to open their eyes to the fact that they are defending the suppression of rights of a large segment of the population. Until the unborn enjoy a right to life equal to that of their mothers (impossible according to Mormonism), abortions will continue.

Ironically, at its core, “pro-life” Mormonism denies the unborn the basic right to life.
 
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