Welcome to Gaia! ::

I wouldn't be surprised if someone has already mentioned something like tihs, but I do think it's an interesting thing to talk about.

I am pro-life. Duh, after all I'm a member of the pro-life guild. But my pastor brought up a point about abortion that piqued my interest. (It's not religious-related, my pastor just happened to be the one who brought it up.) This is the question of what to do about the "unwanted" children in the world.

It's a horrible thing for a child to be unwanted by their parents, who are supposed to love and cherish and protect them. Everyone is entitled to a happy, fun-filled childhood, but a growing number are stripped of that right. In countries like Africa, civil war and unrest has spawned a horrendous amount of rapes and illegitimate pregnancies. AIDS spreads like wildfire due to its hereditary nature. Then there is child prostitution which is nothing to sneeze at when you consider the red light districts of countries like India and Nepal. And then there is your typical case of a child being born to a woman too young, too ignorant, or too scared to bring it up properly and simply abandoning it.

In other words, if abortion was illegal in the U.S., what would we do with all the children who would be born? They would be abandoned. The orphanages, already brimming, would overflow and deteriorate in condition due to lack of funds. Diseases like HIV and also mental/physical disabilities due to the parent's abuse of drugs and drinks would be rampant. Not to mention the number of unsafe illegal abortions would surge.

Even in spite of knowing this, I'm still pro-life. But I think if abortion werre ever illegalized in the U.S. (I can't speak for any other nation) there would need to be some serious changes made in public law. These children would be murdered - at least they would now be alive. But they would not be protected, and children need protecting. I plan to do my part by adopting/fostering children. I've already participated in an effort to help children forced into prostitution at horribly young ages. So my question to all of you is:

What will you do to solve the problem? We are pro-life because we want to protect young lives. But illegalizing abortion is only half the battle. What will you do to continue to protect those children afterward?

wow..i have never thought of it like that before. Very amazing thing to think about. I for one have met people in the system..and going to...
I went to a hospital for a few weeks a couple months ago and one girl was in foster care because she had ben rapped three times by her mothers boyfriends. Needless to say...she doesn't cover herself up like someone who wouldn't want that happeneing to them again...but still. She had to go from one place to another until she went to her aunt's in cally. Another girl i met was verbaly, emotionaly and a little physicaly abused by her mom...until she called someone and she's been in the system ever since. They were sweet girls. Not bad people..just bad things happened to them. And i for one had the very same scary truth that i would have been thrown into that system earlier this week if it wasn't for some urgent things coming to light.

I for one think that it should be made so that every 8th grade class gets to go on a little field trip to an orfanage. If conditions deteriate to that point...then the kids can see if they are stupid and have sex where their children are ending up.

Doubt it. Child abuse cases have only increased in frequency since row v. wade was passed, and even thought 2004 showed a decrese, the reason is mostly because of the 'resonable doubt' defence that has to be played, rather then these children not being abused. Most statistical sights will even tell you that more modern polls are a gross underestimate because of this. There are other reasons as well. Point is, it's not abortion that prevents children from being wanted, it's the parents and society that does. If anything, legalizing abortion has caused us to devalue children, probably leading to more abuse cases, rather then hold them in high reguard like we did before the 70's. You get rid of abortion force people to accept children and infants as human beings rather then an annoyance or a burden, and educate them in this way, i guarentee you'll see the stats change for real.

(resource: http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/199298.pdf )

*nodds*