Well, fewer people will get abortions if they're illegal. I honestly believe that. If someone is faced with the choice between something they don't think they can handle and a painful, unpleasant, stigmatizing process, they will often choose the latter. If alternative B also includes a serious chance they may die, that will tip the scales for some of them.
But you don't convince people to stop doing things by banning them. You convince them by *showing* them its wrong. Some people are deterred from doing murder because they fear the consequences, sure, but IMO most people reject murder as an option because *they* *believe* it's wrong. We haven't made huge inroads in American's smoking habits by banning tobacco (the only people who aren't supposed to get it--kids and some convicts--still get it anyhow); we've done it by stigmatizing smoking and convincing people it will *harm* them to do it.
I hate the idea of people having abortions: what a horrible position to put someone in, deciding to end what at some point could be a human life! But it has to be an option, because for some people it really is the *only* choice. You'll do a lot more good teaching kids how to avoid having babies in the first place. Even the plans from Africa the president cites as showing abstinence works said "abstain, abstain, abstain: and if you can't abstain..."
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2004-09-08 05:13 pm (UTC)But you don't convince people to stop doing things by banning them. You convince them by *showing* them its wrong. Some people are deterred from doing murder because they fear the consequences, sure, but IMO most people reject murder as an option because *they* *believe* it's wrong. We haven't made huge inroads in American's smoking habits by banning tobacco (the only people who aren't supposed to get it--kids and some convicts--still get it anyhow); we've done it by stigmatizing smoking and convincing people it will *harm* them to do it.
I hate the idea of people having abortions: what a horrible position to put someone in, deciding to end what at some point could be a human life! But it has to be an option, because for some people it really is the *only* choice. You'll do a lot more good teaching kids how to avoid having babies in the first place. Even the plans from Africa the president cites as showing abstinence works said "abstain, abstain, abstain: and if you can't abstain..."