Societal Stance on Abortion

[kettle]

IN YOUR OPINION…

Do you think that, if abortion were to become ILLEGAL again, society (as a whole) would find it less acceptable than they do now?

Generally speaking, I think that when abortion was illegal, society, as a whole, felt negatively about it. However, when it became legal, societal opinion changed over a very short amount of time to that which favors the “woman’s right to choose.” Because of that, I can’t help but wonder what would happen with society’s opinion on abortion, should it become illegal once again. I’d like to know what you all think about that.

***A little personal note… My intention is NOT to debate whether or not abortion is right or wrong. I’d just like to know if you think society’s opinion would change about abortion should it become illegal.

 

[vern_humphrey]

Abortion will be like segregation – segregation was illegal long before much of society accepted that. Federal troops had to be sent to various places to enforce desegregation.

The key is societal disapproval – which is expressed in enforceable laws. Then people come to understand how wrong it is.

 

[proudnifi]

I wonder if there are any useful parallels with cigarette smoking.

 

[SoCalRC]

No. Prohibition can somewhat suppress occurance but it does not alter what people want.

Remember, strict abortion laws in Western societies were not around all that long. It was not until the mid 19th century, pushed primarily by doctors, that such laws came into being at all. Even so, in the 1860s and 1870s, ads for abortificants and abortion services were still common in newspapers. The wording was just more discrete than before (much the way that prostitution is advertised as ‘massage’ and ‘escort’ services today).

The principle argument used for abortion laws was protecting the lives of the woman. Very little concern seems to have been expressed for the fetus. Rather the laws were remotely effective is hard to say. In the mid 1940’s abortion related deaths among woman seems to have been in the thousands per year. The introduction of antibiotics dropped that to hundreds per year just prior to Roe v. Wade (it is generally <20 a year now, a significant number of which are still the result of illicit abortions), but it is clear that it isn’t just the flower children of the 60s that were having abortions, but the greatest generation, their parents, as well.

Best Regards

 

[melensdad]

I wonder if there are any useful parallels with cigarette smoking.

None that I see. At least not until we put a “sin tax” on abortions.

• Legislators love to tax cigarettes because it literally brings in BILLIONS of dollar a year in taxes.
• Further, they like to tax it becuase only about 25-26% of the population smokes so for a politician they only offend a small number of voters when they pass regulations/restrictions/taxes.
• Also, smoking bothers others directly and publicly.
• Smoking related disease (lung cancer) is horrible AND is also very public with lots of high profile research, etc.

So compare that to abortion.

• No tax revenue.
• It is argued that it is constitutionally protected.
• Small % of population has them, but larger % support the right.
• Abortion is done in private, unless we know someone who had an abortion, it is basically invisible to the public.
• The harm caused by abortion, beyond the death of the baby, is psychological to the mother and that is not in the public eye so there is no real outcry about the disease since it affects different mothers differently.

 

[tamccrackine]

as you asked, IN MY OPINION, society already sees it as a negative. I wish I could find the last survey I’ve seen but most people don’t have a good view of it in the first place. The responses were more in the realm of that abortion should be illegal except in the cases of rape/incest. And according to the Guttmacher institute, abortions done on women that suffered from rape/incest was 1% of the all abortions performed.

Once you get past the idiotic mantra of “a woman should have a choice as to what to do with her body” and people actually start to REALLY grasp what abortion is, then I think more people will stop with the dumb excuse of “abortion isn’t something I’d choose, but I won’t stop another from doing it.” I find it ironic how those same people would go to the ends of the earth to take the keys from their drunk friend so they don’t harm themselves or kill someone else… but they’d freely allow their friend to go murder an innocent child.

 

[kettle]

tamccrackin, you actually bring up something I hadn’t really thought of in that way. Yes, you’re right… a lot of people do always try to justify “pro choice” by saying that they’re personally opposed to abortion, but they can’t/won’t take that choice away from someone else. It makes me wonder why people are so afraid to stand up for what they believe is right or wrong. Is it because it’s politically “trendy” to be pro-choice, do you think?

 

[melensdad]

a lot of people do always try to justify “pro choice” by saying that they’re personally opposed to abortion

One thing the Anti-Gun lobby does very well is “divide” gun owners into groups and pit them against each other. “50 caliber” owners are separated from “Trap Shooters” and “handgunners” are separated from “hunters.”

Then, when they have seperated the gun owners into smaller groups, they attack only 1 of the groups.

By attacking 1 group they get minor incramental victories and slowly but surely they creep up on their goal over a period of time.

I wonder if we Catholics should not learn something from this, and look at the people who oppose abortion personally, but won’t vote against it. Maybe we should look at the various different reasons people support abortion, and take a look at just opposing SOME types of abortion? It MIGHT look like we are softening our position, but the reality is that if we score a MINOR victory and outlaw SOME abortions we can come back again the following year and try again on a DIFFERENT group of supporters. Divide and conquer over a period of time?

Just a thought.

 

[vern_humphrey]

One thing the Anti-Gun lobby does very well is “divide” gun owners into groups and pit them against each other. “50 caliber” owners are separated from “Trap Shooters” and “handgunners” are separated from “hunters.”

Then, when they have seperated the gun owners into smaller groups, they attack only 1 of the groups.

By attacking 1 group they get minor incramental victories and slowly but surely they creep up on their goal over a period of time.

I wonder if we Catholics should not learn something from this, and look at the people who oppose abortion personally, but won’t vote against it. Maybe we should look at the various different reasons people support abortion, and take a look at just opposing SOME types of abortion? It MIGHT look like we are softening our position, but the reality is that if we score a MINOR victory and outlaw SOME abortions we can come back again the following year and try again on a DIFFERENT group of supporters. Divide and conquer over a period of time?

Just a thought.

Yeah, we should all work together. Those who think more social programs are the answer shouldn’t oppose those who want to reverse Roe vs Wade, for example.

 

[mapleoak]

Once you get past the idiotic mantra of “a woman should have a choice as to what to do with her body” and people actually start to REALLY grasp what abortion is, then I think more people will stop with the dumb excuse of “abortion isn’t something I’d choose, but I won’t stop another from doing it.” I find it ironic how those same people would go to the ends of the earth to take the keys from their drunk friend so they don’t harm themselves or kill someone else… but they’d freely allow their friend to go murder an innocent child.

I do believe that many people just don’t take the time really think about with intent to understand what it is they are saying when they say “I believe it is wrong, but don’t want to impose”. I believe that if abortion were to be made illegal, these people are the ones most likely to affect general public opinion.

 

[iamrefreshed]

IN YOUR OPINION…

Do you think that, if abortion were to become ILLEGAL again, society (as a whole) would find it less acceptable than they do now?

Generally speaking, I think that when abortion was illegal, society, as a whole, felt negatively about it. However, when it became legal, societal opinion changed over a very short amount of time to that which favors the “woman’s right to choose.” Because of that, I can’t help but wonder what would happen with society’s opinion on abortion, should it become illegal once again. I’d like to know what you all think about that.

***A little personal note… My intention is NOT to debate whether or not abortion is right or wrong. I’d just like to know if you think society’s opinion would change about abortion should it become illegal.

I think it might have some impact since it would be breaking the law. I guess how much impact might depend on what the punishment was. I would hope the punishment would fit the crime…murder.