Re: More Religious and Devout Young Women Have Abortions

[Whitney]

More Religious and Devout Young Women Have Abortions
Despite being educated in religious schools

A new study published in the June issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior shows that young women in their teens or early twenties who have attended religious schools are more likely than their peers to get an abortion, despite their beliefs. In fact, the research points out, these girls are more likely than those in the public school system to get pregnant without being too mature or married. The findings are very weird, because private religious schools, regardless of the god they promote, pride themselves in enforcing a very strict policy as far as contacts between their students go.

“This research suggests that young, unmarried women are confronted with a number of social, financial and health-related factors that can make it difficult for them to act according to religious values when deciding whether to keep or abort a pregnancy,” explained City University of New York (CUNY) John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Graduate Center assistant professor, sociologist Amy Adamczyk. She is also the author of the new paper.

For her research, the expert kept an eye on 1,504 unmarried and never-divorced young women in 125 different schools around the United States, aged 26 or younger. The goal of the investigation was to determine exactly how religious behavior influenced the young girls' decisions to have an abortion. Other studies have shown a strong link between religion and abortion attitudes, but this correlation has thus far remained largely unstudied.

A quarter of the women that were a part of the research reported that they had an abortion during it, but the number is certainly larger. Adamczyk said that, in this type of studies, the results usually do not reflect reality accurately, in that the numbers of women who have abortions, but don't want to, or are too afraid to admit are a lot larger. When analyzing the variables in the research, the expert learned that neither religious involvement, nor frequency of prayer or the perception of religion's importance has any bearing on the women's decision.

“Religious school attendance is not necessarily indicative of conservative religious beliefs because students attend these schools for a variety of reasons. These schools tend to generate high levels of commitment and strong social ties among their students and families, so abortion rates could be higher due to the potential for increased feelings of shame related to an extramarital birth,” the expert concluded.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/More-Rel ... 3068.shtml

I think the bolded part is why religious women may be more likely to abort.  I think they get pregnant because they aren't taught about safe sex practices.  When they then do end up becoming sexually active they think it is just a one time slip up and doesn't matter...then oops, they end up pregnant or worse.

[Kylyssa]

Somehow, this is not surprising, they can justify any of their actions, why not abortion, too?  They can do anything and be forgiven in their minds.

[Sophus]

Somehow, this is not surprising, they can justify any of their actions, why not abortion, too?  They can do anything and be forgiven in their minds.

The remarkable ability to do what you think to be wrong and never feel guilty for more than a moment.

I don't really see why so many Christians think abortion is wrong though. In the most accurate translation the Bible says Thou Shall not Murder not Thou Shall Not Kill. To murder you have to kill against the law. So even if you think the fetus is alive it's still not murder.

[SSY]

Somehow, this is not surprising, they can justify any of their actions, why not abortion, too?  They can do anything and be forgiven in their minds.

The remarkable ability to do what you think to be wrong and never feel guilty for more than a moment.

I don't really see why so many Christians think abortion is wrong though. In the most accurate translation the Bible says Thou Shall not Murder not Thou Shall Not Kill. To murder you have to kill against the law. So even if you think the fetus is alive it's still not murder.

Exactly, just like a lot of christians supporting the death penalty, if the kill is legal, then it is not murder.

To play devil's advocate though, maybe the rates of abortion were higher in atheists, but they lied more while the good christian women faithfully reported their trangressions? A self reporting study is always open to that kind of bias, and is one even a moderatley switched on bible basher would notice.

[Enoch Root]

I don't really see why so many Christians think abortion is wrong though. In the most accurate translation the Bible says Thou Shall not Murder not Thou Shall Not Kill. To murder you have to kill against the law. So even if you think the fetus is alive it's still not murder.

You don't really think that's the definition of murder, do you?  I would think that most Christians today would oppose government-sponsored genocide, even if it is "legal" wherever it's happening.

They oppose abortion because they think a fetus is a living child with a human soul.  It's not that hard to understand and it really shouldn't be cause to hate them for it.  I personally have trouble thinking of a small collection of cells without any conscious thought as a living person, but they do, and they think by opposing abortion they're working to stop murders.

It's funny how that very simple distinction eludes most people on both sides of the debate.  One side thinks the fetus is a living human being, the other doesn't.  Understand the ramifications of those beliefs and you'll understand where the other side is coming from.  Until you do your arguments against them will just sound silly.

[Sophus]

You don't really think that's the definition of murder, do you?

Murder - n. 1. The unlawful killing of one human by another, especially with premeditated malice.

In the original text the word used is closest to our word murder, an unlawful killing. Yahweh was never really one against killing if you were in war or had a 007 license  

[Whitney]

In the original text the word used is closest to our word murder, an unlawful killing. Yahweh was never really one against killing if you were in war or had a 007 license  

Right...that's how the Christians can be in the military without feeling like hypocrites.

[curiosityandthecat]

"God Bless America," "In God we Trust" and "One Nation, Under God." It's important to remember that for many corn-fed Christians there is no significant difference between what the government (more specifically, the military) wants and what God wants.  

[Godschild]

Somehow, this is not surprising, they can justify any of their actions, why not abortion, too? They can do anything and be forgiven in their minds.

The remarkable ability to do what you think to be wrong and never feel guilty for more than a moment.

I don't really see why so many Christians think abortion is wrong though. In the most accurate translation the Bible says Thou Shall not Murder not Thou Shall Not Kill. To murder you have to kill against the law. So even if you think the fetus is alive it's still not murder.

It's late and I need to go,but first God said that if a man strikes a woman with child and that child suffers from that action the man is to suffer in the same way.

[Whitney]

It's late and I need to go,but first God said that if a man strikes a woman with child and that child suffers from that action the man is to suffer in the same way.

Post the verse, Godschild, the one I know deals with the man just having to give away some money for the other man's property loss.  Remember, we are not ignorant of the Bible.  

[curiosityandthecat]

Post the verse, Godschild, the one I know deals with the man just having to give away some money for the other man's property loss.  Remember, we are not ignorant of the Bible.  :| '

[Heretical Rants]

Remember, we are not ignorant of the Bible.  

[Whitney]

Remember, we are not ignorant of the Bible.  

I was talking about myself and the mouse in my pocket.  

[curiosityandthecat]

Remember, we are not ignorant of the Bible.  

Stop being.  

[Nulono]

This is news? It's obvious.