Why is our abortion rate so high? Lack of personal responsibility. We as a culture have attempted to unlink sex from procreation and now we are all suffering the consequences.

Thank you for the thought. But is our culture so much different from Canada or England? Are their cultures with more personal responsibility? Personally I think the cultures are fairly similar, which is why our rate, which is more than 1.5 times theirs, is so much more worrying.

The reason I believe that the abortion rate is so high is because of the lack of education, responsible behavior and personal responsibility and, as for Christians, it is because of their lack of understanding and belief that their body is a temple of God that is to be respected as such. Certainly, these Evangelicals understand that the abortion rate is about the same for those within their flock as those Pagans, just as the rate of divorce is.

Yes, I would say that there is something wrong within the Church and this is where the problem lye, and within the hearts and faith of those within their membership.

The Christian Church becoming so intertwined in politics is having a profound negative effect on religion and the truth of who God and Christ is. I am still waiting for someone to show me in scripture a time where Christ or any of the disciples ever attempted to legislate or change anything through government.

If this is what these activist want to take up this cause, find, but they should not be going about this using their reason as doing God’s work.

I think the high abortion rate in this country is because of the ineffectiveness of sex education by parents/teachers. Young children may be afraid to tell their parent(s) due to incestuous relationship, or physical abuse in retaliation. They may feel that abortion is their only choice. The pro-life movement in this country needs to refocus on taking care of the people who do choose to continue their pregnancies, and stop trying to withhold information from our children. Just because we educate them about sex doesn’t mean they will go out and have it.

Khalid, an interesting point, about the Islamic legal position.

To look at the question about why the abortion rate is so much higher in the US than elsewhere in the world, it’s my opinion that US society, and the Church as a part of that society, is still highly puritanical in a bad way when it comes to sexuality. In some ways, I think American culture is still very repressed and schizophrenic when it comes to sex. And this plays out all over the place. From the arguments about sex ed and birth control, through abortion politics, and on into the tendency to make the sexual sins of our leaders into banner headlines above all other sins, we are really messed up here.

To the point about the involvement of the Church in politics, I know where I stand on that one. The church’s call is to bring forth the Kingdom of God. That Kingdom is not of this world, and it will not come about by law or politics. Individual members of the church should be in every function in society, including political leadership. HOWEVER, when the Church starts taking rigid political positions, or getting too involved in partisan politics, it reflects badly on the church.

Good comments from everyone. It seems to me that we all are agreeing that abortions are not desirable. There also seems to be plenty of blame to go around. But wouldn’t it be great if we could unite to bring it down bit by bit, without any legislation. Its a dream but everything starts with a dream.

Imagine slavery without legislation to end it. You wouldn’t have to imagine it, you would still be able to witness it firsthand.

I agree that there is more to do outside of legislation and politics to change hearts and ultimately help those having abortions.

We are talking about protecting lives here people. You are focusing on those having abortions, not on the aborted. Emancapation was not to “help” slave owners from the sin of slave keeping; it was to FREE THE VICTIMS. This requires legislation (much like rape, murder, all other laws we have.)

Mike, Thank you for your comment. You do provide reasons for your position so I am curious why none of the reasons above mean anything to you. That is, a higher abortion rate in USA compared to other nations, through 30 years of trying to change this through legislation (and mind you in there are 16 years when the party that supports your position had the Presidency AND majority in both houses of congress)has done nothing to bring the rate down. Your position on when life begins is not shared by everyone, nor will it ever be shared by everyone. And simply a slave is physically a separate human at all times, a fetus is not until birth. Majority Muslim opinion is that life begins 120 days after conception, clearly different from the position of a portion of the Christians (not all). Shouldn’t we then try to work together to bring the rate down, even if slowly, rather than remain at loggerheads another 30 years? To put a number on this, I know through billboards that there have been 50 million abortions in US since 1970. If instead of this loggerhead we had been working together and the rate was similar to other nations that number would have been less than 35 million. I am not happy about 35 million but it means 15 million abortions would have been prevented. Progress is never instantaneous. You talk of slavery, if you look at how blacks in America were forced to work and live in the 1920’s it was no different than 80 years early. The vestiges of slavery slowly diminished after WW2 though with over 95% segregated housing today we are still seeing remnants of it and African-Americans in general have fewer opportunities in life (not access to good schools or good health care) to succeed. Should they have rejected the gains they have made until an all or nothing solution was reached?

Yes, abortion will always be a choice. So will rape, murder, and so forth. Evil always is a choice.

Khalid, I have to disagree with you concerning “good schools” for blacks. There has been just as much money, equipment, and attention paid to inner city school districts as rural school districts. The difference is the time and effort being made by the parents to be positive role models and work with their kids to promote learning and education. All the money in the world can’t make a kid learn if his parent or parents don’t make him do homework and go to school and get to bed at a decent hour.

As for the difference in abortion rates, we may be similiar in a lot of ways to Europe and Canada, but not when it comes to sex, sex education, and birth control. There is a moderate to large cultural difference between America and those countries…

To answer your question, your reasoning is not meaningless to me. I agree that there is quite a bit of banging our heads against walls that don’t appear to move. The truth is that huge steps have been made, and more are in the future. I don’t think the Bush administration and republican congress did their jobs on this. We can do a lot outside of legislation – proper education, counseling, putting our money where our mouths are and taking care of people and unwanted children, etc. All or nothing is not should not be the goal.

However, I still see no reason to quit pushing for legislation. I would see no reason to allow slavery, despite the hatred and inequality that followed. I would see no reason to oppose the civil rights movement, despite the ensuing violence and racism. The result was good. Abolition had its roots in the late 1700s in America, in some isolated cases prior to the revolution. It didn’t succeed until 1865 with the 13th amendment. There were huge victories, and times that took 10 steps back for every step forward. The entire time legislation was being proposed and passed to forward the cause. It makes an apparently futile 30 years is look not so bad.

You made reference to not everybody accepting my position on when life begins. I would say that it’s not opinions that need not be shared, but factual, evidential. Opinions, such as an 800-year-old decision made (by very well-intended men) without the scientific facts should not be our basis. Science is our measuring stick here. I’m not against abortion for any reason except that it ends a life. If science disagrees with me, I’ll change my position.

I am sick of the mantra that abortion is bad and we should get the rate down, but it’s still must be allowed. If it’s bad, and we need it to be reduced, tell us why? If that why is that it ends a life, then how is there any greater good being served by allowing it? It’s political double speak lacking any logical backing.