Pro-Life Movement...What about abstinence?

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Hello all. This time of the year is the time in which the Roe vs. Wade decision was made and thousands of people go to Walk for Life marches and the such. The Pro-Life and Catholic organizations remind us how abortion is wrong. I’ve been reflecting a little and I realize that we put a lot of emphasis on how abortion is wrong and that it hurts women. I totally agree with that, but I don’t really see an emphasis on abstinence and chastity. Sex is the only thing that produces babies, so shouldn’t we also emphasize abstinence? We live in highly sexualized world and people start having sex in their teens, and there is no one to tell them that what they are doing is wrong- the media tells them that what they are doing is normal. Sure there may be organizations that promote abstinence but they’re not that popular among the secular teens.

What do you think?
 
Yes, but we also want mothers not married yet to know they are going to be supported in their pregnancy. We don’t want them procuring abortions in order to conceal what would otherwise become a very public lapse in chastity.
 
Yes, it is important to stress the necessity of abstinence. It is also very important to stress the immorality of contraception since contraception leads to abortion.
 
JCats1 said:
Hello all. This time of the year is the time in which the Roe vs. Wade decision was made and thousands of people go to Walk for Life marches and the such. The Pro-Life and Catholic organizations remind us how abortion is wrong. I’ve been reflecting a little and I realize that we put a lot of emphasis on how abortion is wrong and that it hurts women. I totally agree with that, but I don’t really see an emphasis on abstinence and chastity. Sex is the only thing that produces babies, so shouldn’t we also emphasize abstinence? We live in highly sexualized world and people start having sex in their teens, and there is no one to tell them that what they are doing is wrong- the media tells them that what they are doing is normal. Sure there may be organizations that promote abstinence but they’re not that popular among the secular teens.

What do you think?
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Hi,
We did have abstainance being taught in public schools along w contraception under Pres. Bush II. I don’t know where we are now? They let us do it and then, they stop it. If the Catholics and jews do not vote republican there will be 3 new supreme court justices put in.We are getting close to a reversal on Roe vs Wade. God, I plead with you guide the voters to elect your servant that will bring your values back. Protect the Catholics in Syria and Iraq and Afghanistan. Let the Caliphate see your supernatural world. Let them see your angels.
Give wisdom to t he rulers of the free world on how to fight and win.The Muslim prophecy has come true. All the Arab states were restless w the Arab spring. Then, THE TWELTH PROPHET will appear. Who is the great Mahadi. I don’t know who he is but he will start the Caliphate to cover the earth and all Will worship Allah
We believe, Lord you will come again. Please hurry
in Christ’s Love
Tweedlealice
 
I was under the impression that the pro-life movement does emphasize abstinence.

I remember reading a story somewhere, about a teen girl who came to a crisis pregnancy center for a pregnancy test. The pro-life worker counseled her on abstinence to avoid pregnancy, and the girl broke down into tears. No one had ever told her that she didn’t have to have sex with her boyfriend. She had been led to believe that sex was required of her. The moment in the crisis pregnancy center changed everything when she realized she was allowed to say no, and that “not everyone is doing it”.

So yes, I think that the pro-life movement does emphasize abstinence.
 
What I don’t see any emphasis on (except for Feminists For Life and to some extent American Life League) is the obscenely high cost of childbirth and delivery. That’s a puzzlement to me. All the legislation is focused on stopping abortion, yet there’s barely any acknowledgement of the high cost delivering the baby once the mother does choose life.
 
I think the problem is we don’t teach respect for women. Every time a man asks me if I will join the march for abortion my reply is ‘As a man, what have you done to help make strip bars illegal’ they all say ‘I don’t go to them’ implying that since they do not go to them, they don’t have to fight to stop them. So I respond, ‘I don’t have abortions so I don’t have to fight to stop them’

Until men organize a movement to make pornography illegal, as much as I am against abortion, I think it will be useless to try to stop it. Only 1 man ever took me seriously and agreed abortion is not the root is it the result of the evil (ie no respect for the sanctity of marriage). However, his wife was dying of cancer and he understandably was not in a position to do much to stop pornography

Angie
 
Abstinence will always be unpopular among young people, ISTM

ICXC NIKA
 
Anglewannabe said:
I think the problem is we don’t teach respect for women. Every time a man asks me if I will join the march for abortion my reply is ‘As a man, what have you done to help make strip bars illegal’ they all say ‘I don’t go to them’ implying that since they do not go to them, they don’t have to fight to stop them. So I respond, ‘I don’t have abortions so I don’t have to fight to stop them’

Until men organize a movement to make pornography illegal, as much as I am against abortion, I think it will be useless to try to stop it. Only 1 man ever took me seriously and agreed abortion is not the root is it the result of the evil (ie no respect for the sanctity of marriage). However, his wife was dying of cancer and he understandably was not in a position to do much to stop pornography

Angie
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That’s so true. In my city, I always pass an adult video store on my way to school. I think people should protest that store and cause it to go out of business. I always imagine of putting like a sign in front of it saying “If a man looks upon a woman with lust he has already committed adultery in his heart.” IDK. Yet, my church is very much into the pro-life business and I think they should make some efforts to close the store down.
 
Personally, In all my “pro-life” encounters, I’ve never heard abstinence mentioned.
 
randomuser said:
What I don’t see any emphasis on (except for Feminists For Life and to some extent American Life League) is the obscenely high cost of childbirth and delivery. That’s a puzzlement to me. All the legislation is focused on stopping abortion, yet there’s barely any acknowledgement of the high cost delivering the baby once the mother does choose life.
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You have a point there. Take for instance a pregnant single mother who doesn’t have much money. How can she afford the baby if she were to deliver it.

Another issue that I notice is that single mothers are often stigmatized.
 
tweedlealice said:
The Muslim prophecy has come true. All the Arab states were restless w the Arab spring. Then, THE TWELTH PROPHET will appear. Who is the great Mahadi. I don’t know who he is but he will start the Caliphate to cover the earth and all Will worship Allah
Tweedlealice
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Um…I don’t think this will ever happen because the only true form of salvation is the Catholic church and end times will only occur in the manner in which Jesus said it will.

And also FYI, the word “Allah” just means God in Arabic, just like how “Dios” means God in Spanish. Even Arab Christians use the term Allah when referring to God.
 
JCats1 said:
You have a point there. Take for instance a pregnant single mother who doesn’t have much money. How can she afford the baby if she were to deliver it.

Another issue that I notice is that single mothers are often stigmatized.
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Depends on where. I personally know young women who deliberately chose single motherhood (and not as an alternative to abortion).

ICXC NIKA
 
JCats1 said:
You have a point there. Take for instance a pregnant single mother who doesn’t have much money. How can she afford the baby if she were to deliver it.

Another issue that I notice is that single mothers are often stigmatized.
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Many crisis pregnancy centers either cover the cost themselves and/or have connections with community and government resources that cover expenses. The network here also offers job training and education and scholarship opportunities.

Unfortunately, the lie that Planned Parenthood and other abortion mills are the only provider of health care for poor women is believed by a lot of people, even those who are pro-life. I think we have a duty to at least know our own local resources.

You can also go into any emergency room when delivering and they HAVE to provide care. They cannot turn you away for inability to pay. Is that the ideal circumstance? No. But it exists.

I do agree overall that the cost is too high. My hospital birth alone cost $25,000 (and it was an uncomplicated vaginal delivery). My birth center births cost $10,000 each, and that included all my prenatal care and testing.
 
I have been a chastity educator for my diocese and I am strongly against abstinence-only education. The short reason is that it has proven to fail because frankly it is about giving someone yes and no answers regarding sexual activity.

Chastity education instead engages people about why and why not to help them think through scenarios and potential decisions. It focuses on not only the impact of our actions on ourselves and others but also compels personal respect therein.

To suggest that the pro-life movement is in any way against this or at least does not make this a priority of emphasis is to be terribly misinformed.
 
Kenny_Kamel said:
I have been a chastity educator for my diocese and I am strongly against abstinence-only education. The short reason is that it has proven to fail because frankly it is about giving someone yes and no answers regarding sexual activity.

Chastity education instead engages people about why and why not to help them think through scenarios and potential decisions. It focuses on not only the impact of our actions on ourselves and others but also compels personal respect therein.

To suggest that the pro-life movement is in any way against this or at least does not make this a priority of emphasis is to be terribly misinformed.
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Yes.
 
This has created a dynamic wherein the pro-life movement often works to reduce, as much as possible, the consequences of female fornication. Traditionally the consequences of out-of-wedlock sex could include (but did not always include, and never did so equally for both men and women) shame, loss of status and income, and other consequences. Pro-lifers worry that these things will lead more women to abort: unborn children are hostages, keeping the pro-life movement captive.
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As a result nearly our entire society is united on the goal of making unwed pregnancy and out of wedlock motherhood as easy and consequence-free as possible. People formally support abortion on the left, people materially support abortion on the right (even though many genuinely wish to oppose abortion and do formally oppose it), and almost nobody actually opposes abortion.
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zippycatholic.wordpress.com/2013/01/26/pro-life-stockholm-syndrome/

%between%
 
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