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From: beth@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP (Beth Christy)
Newsgroups: net.politics,net.religion
Subject: Re: Planned Parenthood
Message-ID: <1141@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 26-Sep-85 18:13:32 EDT
Article-I.D.: sphinx.1141
Posted: Thu Sep 26 18:13:32 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 28-Sep-85 08:28:30 EDT
References: <1710@pyuxd.UUCP>, <1620@umcp-cs.UUCP>
Organization: U. Chicago - Computation Center
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Xref: watmath net.politics:11221 net.religion:7789

[Be prepared - always keep a condom/diaphragm tacked to your headboard]

From: mangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP (Charley Wingate), Message-ID: <1620@umcp-cs.UUCP>:
>A teenage girl who has
>had one abortion already and is about to have another really needs to be
>confronted with the moral issues involved, even if no answers are given.

I bet I'm gonna get it for this, but:

Pardon me, but I trust you're going to be confronting the boys with a
moral issue or two as well?  Teenage girls who are having abortions did
not get there by themselves, and they absolutely should not be the only
ones bearing the moral responsibilities.  A boy/man who is not willing to
take on the responsibility of raising *HIS* child is at least as morally
culpable as a girl/woman who chooses not raise hers.  You can't tell who
the father is as easily as you can tell who the mother is?  Wouldn't hurt
you too much to teach *ALL* boys a little bit about morals.  Hell, go for
it, teach 'em a LOT about morals.  About taking resposibility for their
actions (raising *THEIR* children, who have *THEIR* names by the way),
about not inflicting traumas on other human beings (despite the "fears"
of the "moral majority", deciding whether or not to have an abortion is
*extremely* traumatic, even if one decides against it; and boys who
inflict that kind of pain on girls have an additional moral
responsibility of their own).  G'head, teach 'em something.

What annoys me most about this posting is that I'm positive it was just
an "innocent" phrasing of an "innocent" example - you probably didn't
even think about it when you wrote it.  *THAT* scares me, that the
population at large just easily accepts that girls who consider abortions
are in need of "special" moral counselling.  I think you (like myself and
the rest of us) could benefit from a little moral education yourself.

-- 

--JB        (Beth Christy, U. of Chicago, ..!ihnp4!gargoyle!sphinx!beth)

"What if the after-effect of the terrible bomb is unusual beyond belief?
 Wouldn't you rather the whole population had listened to somebody like
    the old Indian chief?"   (The Roches)