Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site watmath.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!saquigley From: saquigley@watmath.UUCP (Sophie Quigley) Newsgroups: net.abortion Subject: open letter to pro-lifers Message-ID: <7257@watmath.UUCP> Date: Sun, 18-Mar-84 11:27:40 EST Article-I.D.: watmath.7257 Posted: Sun Mar 18 11:27:40 1984 Date-Received: Mon, 19-Mar-84 07:22:27 EST Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario Lines: 52 Open letter to pro-lifers: Has anybody who believes that abortion is a murder ever considered seriously the possibility that abortion might be an effect rather than a cause of our carelessness about life in general. I think that history clearly points to this interpretation. Acceptance of abortion is a relatively recent phenomenon, less than a century old. Murder, torture, genocide has been happening for as long as we can remember in human history. How can it be claimed that all of these crimes will be caused by the acceptance of abortion? They exist already and have existed for thousands of years. If you are concerned about abortion creating these crimes against humanity, then I suggest you wake up and realise that there is no need for abortion to create those crimes and start do something about them instead of working on something which is hardly related. Your government has already accepted genocide. It is done in South America under the name of "american interests". The people being killed there are clearly human, they have already been born and proved that they are human and they are still being killed: indians in guatemala, people opposing the governments of chile, uruguay, el salvador, the list goes on. If you are really worried that the genocide will reach home and that there will be nobody there to help you out when it gets to you because they will all have been killed than maybe you should worry about those who are already been killed. If on the other hand, you are simply worried about desensitisation to life, then may I suggest that you also look around to see what causes this desensitisation. It doesn't start with embryos being killed, it starts with animals being killed and tortured. This killing is institutionalised, it is called biology 101, where you learn that it is ok to stick a pin in a frog's brain, squish things around and then cut it up in little pieces while it is still alive, all this in the name of "learning". There are more and more examples, but it is clear that one of the first ways people are being desensitised to suffering and killing is by teaching them to do it on animals, and by teaching them to eat flesh and not think of the animal where it came from as a living being, but as a meat machine. If finally what horrifies you is the idea that somebody would want to kill their own children, then maybe you should look around to see why they want to kill them and work on removing the incentives rather than preventing the killing. Listen to the women telling you that they want safe methods of birth control widely available and work on creating those. Listen to the people telling you that they cannot have children because they do not have time to take care of them, and work on creating easily accessible day care facilities. Listen to those telling you that they cannot afford children and help them financially. Listen to the parents who tell you that they cannot give a child up for adoption to strangers because they cannot conceive of ever being allowed to see their child again, and start to work on less punitive adoption systems. There is a lot to be done, but in the long run, won't it be more useful than stopping each woman one by one from having an abortion? Unless you are working on all these areas, along with your pro-life efforts, I just cannot believe you genuinely care about life. Sophie Quigley ...!{decvax,allegra}!watmath!saquigley