From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!eagle!mhtsa!alice!hou5f!hou5d!houxz!ihnp4!ihuxm!prgclb Newsgroups: net.women Title: Re: 10th anniversary Article-I.D.: ihuxm.161 Posted: Mon Jan 31 16:45:11 1983 Received: Tue Feb 1 19:12:28 1983 Reply-To: prgclb@ihuxm.UUCP (Carl Blesch) References: unc.4564 Bill Leler, I think your letter has been the most constructive and sensible assessment of the abortion controversy yet posted. I too believe abortion is immoral, but I also believe that back-alley abortions are even more so (the ignorance, added suffering, and organized crime participation are all part of this immorality). And back-alley abortions are what we're going to get by simplistically making legal abortion illegal. Problem is, so many anti-abortionists are the very same people who are anti-education and anti-birth control. Why did abortion become "legal" in the first place? Because of inadequate birth control information and practices, because society socially outcast the unmarried pregnant girl/woman, etc. >From my moral standpoint, I'm against abortion -- legal, illegal or however. But we who are against abortion are not going to stop it by carelessly passing laws that deal with symptoms instead of causes. This especially applies to amending the constitution -- a process which our country's forefathers did not intend as a method of single-issue legislation! Those who advocate anti-abortion legislation should also advocate legislation creating every means possible to make people not want or need abortion in the first place. Of course, my assessment/proposal is a bit simplistic, but it seems like a step in the right direction . . . Carl Blesch