On Child Abuse and Abortion

Prolifeman, I really liked what you quoted from that other pro-lifer (the "suckiness" of abuse thing). It illustrates how some choicers seem to be employing faulty logic in their justifications of abortion AND child abuse. I don't think all pro-lifers have picked up on it yet... but choicers who excuse the fatal abuse of abortion often act as if abuse after birth is a given and cannot be prevented.

Child abuse has increased sharply since the legalization of abortion. But instead of then realizing that legalized abortion has not decreased child abuse as promised... choicers pretend the solution is even more abortions. I have to wonder how much legalization of abortion itself has contributed to the increase of child abuse.

Here are just a few ways that acceptance of abortion may be causing more child abuse:

Too often choicers think they are "helping" by simply supporting "abortion rights". People who might otherwise volunteer and donate directly to programs that help prevent child abuse may be volunteering and donating to groups who defend that abortion industry instead... thinking they are somehow preventing child abuse.

It has become very popular to point to child abuse as a reason abortion needs to stay legal... So popular that I sometimes wonder if choicers need child abuse to continue since it provides such a handy justification for them to keep abortion legal. Thousands of unborn babies will be killed in utero today. Thousands of women will have abortions today, and many if not most of those women will verbalize the child abuse is caused by unplanned pregnancy theory to assure that legal abortion is needed by society. But very few of the women who pay to have those babies killed today will be doing it because they are child abusers themselves. So while many choicers claim an interest in child abuse, very few are actually aborting because of that. They are using a professed concern about child abuse victims to cover up their own selfish reason for aborting - a desire to have sex minus responsibility.

Pro-lifers need to challenge choicers who pretend that the best or only solution to child abuse is to fatally abuse the victims by abortion. Such extreme pessimism is interfering with valid efforts to prevent abuse and may reveal the choicer actually is benefitting by the continued and increased incidence of child abuse. You know how some choicers get livid when you try to deprive them of this popular justification of abortion? Well, that may be because their main interest in child abuse victims is how they can be exploited to defend "abortion rights". Their anger when confronted with a pro-lifer who questions their knowledge and sincerity about child abuse could be caused by fear that one of their favorite excuses for supporting abortion is being taken away. Pro-lifers need not interpret such anger as proof that choicers care about child abuse victims! The victims of child abuse deserve more than irate posturing; they deserve advocates that have the decency to learn about child abuse and help with the efforts to stop it... they deserve advocates that put the safety of the victims above all other agendas. This provides a logical explanation why so many choicers fail to participate in the genuine efforts to reduce child abuse - a reduction in child abuse would deprive them of their popular justification.

No matter how angry it makes choicers, pro-lifers have the unsavory task of challenging the way child abuse victims have been exploited to promote "abortion rights" to serve the selfish desires of sexually irresponsible choicers. Failure to do so amounts to lifers placing the safety of child abuse victims behind the desire to gain choicer approval. And that would be just as shameful as how those choicers are failing to properly consider the victims of abuse.

more on child abuse

When I was learning to be a volunteer for Parents Anonymous (a child abuse prevention organization) the major cause of child abuse was explained by the acronym W.A.R. (for World of Abnormal Rearing). This was emphasized almost as much as the fact that child abuse is NOT caused by unplanned/unwanted pregnancy. I was taught how children who were raised by abusers often grew up to become abusers themselves. Not to say that the cycle of abuse cannot be overcome... some victims of abuse managed to escape becoming abusers of their own children... But of all the known causes of child abuse, having had that type of "parenting" modeled to you was a major cause of child abuse. By the way, it was also mentioned that abortion was not an effective way to break the cycle of abuse! I was told abusers "want" children and don't resort to abortion as often or easily as non-abusers. And when they do it just delays the opportunity for them to act on their tendency to copy the modeling of parenting they grew up with, since they most likely will eventually have children. (As a pro-lifer I might add that abortion is in itself a form of fatal abuse.) Most abused children were planned and wanted by their abusers!

Other factors included ignorance of child development, underdeveloped skills for dealing with stress, and substance abuse (alcohol and drugs).

I would like to address the way ignorance of child development sometimes leads to child abuse: If an adult has little knowledge of the stages of human development, they may have unrealistic expectations of the child and resultant anger or frustration when the child naturally fails to live up to such unfairly high expectations. The choicers who claim that the unborn baby (that they brought into existence by their own selfish actions) is an "invader" or "parasite" are expecting their unborn child to do something they cannot possibly pull-off: remove themselves from the womb IMMEDIATELY. When choicers insist on the right to kill the unborn baby just because they are unwilling to wait nine months for the baby to remove itself they are being unreasonable. (Also making negative remarks about the fetus like calling it a "parasite", is similar to the way those who abuse already born children need to think the victim has been "bad" and therefore deserves what they get.)

A related justification for the abuse comes in when the abuser assures themself that the child is too small, undeveloped or immature to fully realize the impact of the abuse and therefore is not really harmed by it. We were taught specifically to listen for such justifications when we answered the volunteer phones. That type of justification was supposed to be a red flag signaling the abuser/abuse was becoming so dangerous that the child's life should be considered in danger. It's interesting to note that choicers routinely justify the fatal abuse of abortion based on assurances that their victims are too small or underdeveloped to be affected...

I was horrified when the realization hit me that the very same excuses I had employed to defend abortion were inadvertant promotions of the attitudes that increase child abuse in a society. But still being a choicer, skeptical, and of course wanting to not feel guilt... I asked the instructors and a rep from the Division of Youth and Family Services if the increases in child abuse could be explained away by increased reporting requirements, increased drug abuse, and other factors. Their answer was that the sharp rise in child abuse could only be partially explained by such known factors. They said that abuse had increased so much and so quickly that the previously known causes could not alone explain it.

Really, when you think about it honestly, although many people parrot the assumption that child abuse is caused by unplanned/unwanted pregnancy, besides the abortion industry and those who support it, there is no evidence that old myth has any validity.

Here are some more links about child abuse:

Again, note that the popular assumption that child abuse is caused by unplanned pregnancy is not included in the known causes of child abuse. (http://www.ccas.toronto.on.ca/ccasweb/contents/abuseindic2.html)

getting frantic are we? Laughing out loud

MY MY!

Somebody sure is getting excited!

Calm down and listen to this:

I have studied child abuse - the causes and prevention. Unlike you, I prefer to get my facts about child abuse from the experts and agencies directly involved with child abuse research and prevention - NOT the abortion industry and the various toadies that lobby for it. Here's some info you've obviously never heard before...

Child abuse is NOT (I repeat NOT) caused by a child being "unwanted/unplanned". That's right! Many studies were undertaken in an attempt to prove that it was, but it was discovered that old myth was simply not true. In fact, the majority of abused children were born from planned pregnancies. Also child abuse rates have skyrocketed since the legalization of abortion. People with a genuine concern about victims of child abuse LEARN about child abuse and don't exploit the victims to further their own pet causes.

I'm aware of the claim that the reduction in crime is being exploited as an example of how abortion has supposedly benefitted society... It has been discussed in much detail at various abortion message boards. You're not the first choicer to zealously latch onto that tidbit in hopes of justifying abortion - Laughing out loud. If you like, I can supply some links to message threads dealing with that assumption. But I should warn you that other message boards would not tolerate your temper and foul language... You'd have to behave or you'd get banned.

oh grow up already

First of all, your need to pretend my pro-life advocacy is based on religion reveals that you are afraid to admit there are many valid reasons to oppose the killing of unborn babies besides religion. I have never phrased my opposition to abortion in religious terms, yet you keep responding to me as if I have.

When I was a choicer I really counted on the media to show pro-lifers that were religious. I would literally hold my breath waiting for them to show a nun or somebody quoting scripture. I never came anywhere near passing out from having to hold my breath for very long... the biased media was more than willing to assure me that opposition to abortion was "merely" religious. But you will encounter many non-religious arguments against abortion online. To debate online, you're going to have to give up some of your evasion tactics (stereotypes, slogans, assumptions you're not prepared to back up). Your inability to post much else besides obscenities displays just how unnerving online debate is for you. Please make some effort to post with courage and courtesy.

As to my typing mistakes... so what? This is not a grammar and spelling debate board - Laughing out loud. Did you change the subject to that because you can't come up with logical rebuttals to the points I made about abortion?

Listen, I know it's going to be hard for you to give up pretending that child abuse and crime are caused by unplanned pregnancy... But no matter how much you want or need to believe that outdated theory... it simply isn't true. I can understand your skepticism. I was very skeptical too when I first learned that child abuse is NOT caused by "unwanted/unplanned" pregnancy. I was in training to be a hotline phone volunteer for Parents Anonymous - an organization that helps prevent child abuse. The very first thing we were taught is the REAL causes of child abuse. It was stressed that if we didn't give up the popular belief that child abuse is caused by unplanned pregnancy, then our training was over since we'd be of no positive use to the program! Now, this orgnaization was in no way affiliated with any anti-abortion group. And the instructors provided info about studies which had proved that old myth wrong. I understand your fear of losing such a handy excuse to justify abortion. But exploiting victims of child abuse for your own pet cause, without having the decency to learn about the real causes and cures of child abuse, is shameful. Child abuse victims deserve genuine concern and real solutions. What do you really know about child abuse and who told it to you? As I said before, the abortion industry and the lobby groups that back it should not be considered child abuse experts. I challenge you to find a reliable source about child abuse (NOT groups affiliated with the abortion industry) that claims child abuse is caused by the victim being "unwanted".

Appendix

Unwanted children = abuse?

According to Pro-Choice rhetoric, legalizing abortion is supposed to help reduce the number of cases of child abuse.

What are the facts?

In 1973, 167,000 cases of child abuse were reported.
In 1980, 785,100 cases were reported, for an increase of 370%.
In 1987, 2,025,200 cases were reported, for an increase of 1,112%.

"Elective abortion is an important cause of child abuse," cites Dr. Phillip Ney. "Recent evidence indicates many women harbor strong guilt feelings long after their abortions. Guilt is one important cause of child battering and infanticide. Abortion also lowers women’s self-esteem and there are studies reporting a major loss of self-esteem in battering parents."

This information is taken from Parents Place

From http://discserver.snap.com/Indices/43683.html Pro-Lifers Against Clinic Violence debate and discussion. Reprinted with permission.

Background graciously provided by: