WISE UP!
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Abortion 

Everybody has strong ethical and moral feelings on this one.  And in the US, this issue is used to manipulate more people than any other.  If you don't believe you're being manipulated, ask yourself:

• Do you ever get the feeling that the leadership actually wants a stalemate, so they always have something to motivate people like you?

• How come only one question -- with a yes/no answer and no compromise possible -- is all either side ever talks about?  Why do both sides advocate government regulation as a solution?

• What would your side do if offered a way to cut the number of abortions in half?  Why would they (do they) oppose this?

• What would happen if your side instantly got their way?  What other problems would immediately need to be solved?  Why aren't those ramifications being discussed, and how come the leaders don't talk about the programs and funding needed to deal with these inevitable problems?

Most religious leaders are against abortion -- the more vocal, the more strongly opposed.  But abortion has been around for at least 2500 years, longer than most religions.  And governments around the world have a more moderate view, because they have to deal with the public health and welfare issues that surround unwed mothers, unwanted children, and foster care.  

Since the 1850s, the US government held that abortion in the first trimester was legal--way before the Supreme Court's Roe vs Wade decision.  Even the pope held that life begins in the second trimester...over 300 years ago!

Wise Up!  Abortion isn't a black-and-white issue:

• If we made abortion illegal, it would only be illegal for the poor. Anyone in the upper half of the economy would go overseas to get an abortion. For the rich, abortion has been available throughout history.

• If we made abortion illegal, it would only guarantee the return of abortion butchers, who would perform them in unsafe conditions. For the poor, this has been true for a long time.

• Let's say we ignore those two bullets.  Even if nobody in the US ever got an abortion, and even if our adoption rate doubled... there would be 5 times as many children up for adoption as there are adopting families. The orphanages and foster care system couldn't handle the explosion.

Look at it a different way -- stop answering the wrong question.  We're not getting anywhere by dividing ourselves and hating "the other side."  

Let's ask some different questions:  is there some sort of shortage of unwanted, abused, or impoverished children?  Do we want more of them?  On the other hand, do we want to encourage more abortions?  

Nobody would answer "yes" to any of those questions.  So, what kind of things can we do to make sure there are fewer unwanted, abused, or impoverished children?  What kind of education would help?  What kind of contraception? What kinds of sanctions against men who are willing to conceive a child but not marry or support the mother?  By asking -- and answering -- that sort of question, you can see ways for pro-life and pro-choice to cooperate, making progress on some common ground.

Find out more...

• Religious Tolerance.org: A balanced view of both sides of the issue

• You Debate:  What the public thinks

• Polling Report:  What the public has been saying over the last 10 years

What did we get wrong?