Why don't Liberals think Abstinence education programs would lower the rate of Abortions?

Question

Did they miss the part of sex ed that said "you have to have sex to get pregnant"?

And don't give me that nonsense about "teens are going to have sex anyway". I KNOW there was less sex between teenagers 50 years ago, try to prove me wrong. What do you think if a parent would have found his daughter at a "rainbow party" in 1950?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_Rainbow_Party

There is no "it wasn't as publicized back then". Bull, it didn't happen. There was LESS promiscuous sex, less abortions, and NO AIDS. I know they still had VERY rare abortions, but still much less than they do today.

However, since people commit abortions anyway, we should make them legal, correct? Well, should rape be legal? People do it anyway?
(I know that question was just asked, but NO ONE answered it! I wonder why? They just beat around the bush, as they will with this one...)

Answer 1

Teen pregnancy is on the rise if you haven't noticed. It increased exponentially with the start of the abstinence teachings or lack there of. You can't compare today with those of 50 years ago. Back then everyone had very different views on sexuality. When I was younger, they taught sex ed and we only had one case of pregnancy in my school. One. And, sex ed isn't just about teaching the risks of pregnancy, but STDs as well, or did you forget those. And, if you teach abstinence, when kids DO have sex, they don't know what to do. They don't understand about STDs, girls can't tell when they are prengnant, they don't know how to use a condom. If they are going to do it, better safe than sorry, I always say.

And, don't forget, 50 years ago, we didn't have that little epidemic called AIDS. You dont' think kids should be taught to prevent that either?

Answer 2

I hate to tell you this but you are wrong. Pregnancies are less common amongst teenagers today than in the 70's, 80's, and 90's. I couldn't find government statistics for before then but believe me, pregnancy was common then too. The difference was that women were sent away or the couple got married. Abortions spiked in the last 70's and 80's and the rates have gone down since.

http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/2006/09/12/USTPstats.pdf

Certain sex acts may be more common but more sex in general? Come on.

As far as abortion goes, all I can say is read the Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade which goes into the history of abortion in this country and in the world. Believe it or not, abortion was not always considered immoral or wrong or even that uncommon (used to be called "quickening"). Basically some people decided in the 19th century that it was wrong and slowly it was banned in states.

Answer 3

Did you know that anyone and everyone can edit Wikipedia, so it's meaningless to try and cite that as a credible source?

Anyway, I'm a liberal and most (but I concede not all) of the ABSTINENCE education that I've heard of (from talking with friends and coworkers that grew up with those programs) has nothing to do with SEX education. Please don't confuse the two.

I have no beef with teaching that abstinence is the only way to completely prevent pregnancy and STDs, because I agree with that. But I believe in telling the whole story and providing all the facts and alternatives, and yes, that includes education about sex and contraception and protection. Teenagers should be given the tools necessary to make their own decisions, they're not the children that too many adults pretend.

I have problems with teaching that abstinence is the ONLY option for hormonally-charged teenagers, because that choice doesn't work for everyone. Yes, I believe that teenagers ARE going to have sex anyway. Perhaps it wasn't true 50 years ago, but it was also a different culture back then.

Women have abortions for all kinds of reasons, and I agree with Mr. O, it's legal because many of us support that the inherent right of a woman to decide what happens to her own body supersedes the nonexistent right of a fetus to be born.

Answer 4

It is really about hormones, think back a while, when you was a kid. Especially in today's society, teens are being bombarded by sex, TV, Movies, Music, just about from every angle. Peer pressure plays a part. While I do agree that abstinence should be taught, I think realistically that other forms of birth control should be offered also. I think responsibility for their actions would be a better approach to this problem, that starts way before teenage. Not especially about sex, but about life in general. This can be translated into the sex education classes that for every action there is a reaction and one of the problems of having sex is pregnancy and that they are then responsible for the consequences.

Answer 5

You see abstinence is about self resect, self control, self accountability and real planning. The libral don't do those things. They are about what feels good and crowd mentality. The reason "things" happen so much more these days is because it has become common place. Sex is no longer a sacred act between a man and his wife, instead it is a second or third date. Sex feels good! There is no arguing with that, but it for forming long term bonds between mating men and women. Duh! It takes self control to not give into those very real and powerful urges to procreate, and if two do give in then there is self accountability and planning that need to come next. Liberals want to live in the minute. Well that's all fine and good but a good deal of living in the future needs to happen first ot be able to live in the moment with quality for yourself and your loved ones.

Answer 6

Oh dear, you are showing your youth - or ignorance....

Young people are going to have sex, I don't care how much preaching they hear. And, before you start spouting off about what happened 50 years ago, hear from one who was there.

Girls still got pregnant.....parents who could afford it, sent the girl to Europe for an abortion... Girls who could come up with a few bucks went to a back alley butcher or tried a few home methods such as douching with Drano or using coat hangars.

Girls whose parents couldn't afford to send them to Europe and girls who didn't try to abort themselves were sent to "homes for unwed mothers" where they were forced to give birth and the baby taken away in the delivery room

So don't talk about something of which you have no knowledge.

Abortion has been a fact of life throughout history...Roe v Wade made it a safe medical procedure.

Teenagers and young people are NOT smart...if they were, they would use protection...but they don't....and they get pregnant....and they have abortions. Get over it.

Answer 7

Speaking as a Liberal, I do believe that absttinence programs will lower abortion rates. I fully support abstinece programs, however too many schools my my neck of the woods (the "Bible Belt") believe that abstinenece is the only policy, and that is just asking for trouble.

Whether we like it or not, our teens ARE having sex at frightingly young ages. Little girls are being sexualized by their dolls and clothes, and they are also going through puberty at startling ages. It is not unusla for a girl to start mensutration as young as 10-11. Little boys are taught that it is a measure of manhood, the entire media is convincing teens that appearance and sexuality are so important.

Our society needs to realize that our kids are going to be tempted to have sex, so we have to prevent as much as possible, but still offer ways for the ones who will still have sex to protect themselves. Short of locking them all in chastity belts, there will always be a few rebellious teens who are going to have sex, but the potential consequences of their one act of indescretion are so dire that they deserve a little protection. It is so easy to say "she deserved it, for what she did," but should one foolish encounter condemn her to death from AIDS or sentence an innocent child to life with a mother who neither wants him nor knows how to take care of him?

Your arguement about legalizing abortion equating to legalizing rape makes no sense whatsoever. Yes, people are still going to do it whether it is legal or not, so if it is leagal then we can regulate the conditions, terms and regulations. What is to stop mothers from aborting pregnancies in the thrid trimester or from using coat hangers as instruments ?(Look up abortion in the 1950's) At least with legal abortion, these atrocities can be banned and prevented. Believe me, banning abortion will not lower abortion rates, it will only raise the number of fetuses aborted late and mothers killed by the procedure. How is that "Pro Life"?

Where does the government get to step in and draw the line? What about aborting when the mother's life is in danger? Or conception by rape? Or if the child will be born with AIDS or a crack addiction?

So, stop beating around the bush yourself and answer my questions!

Answer 8

it will be very hard to get a useful answer by the way you wrote your question. Liberals do NOT 'think' (reason, apply logic, problem solve, thesis-antithesis-synthesis) like I do. They FEEL the answer!! It is difficult to prove anyone thinks or feels, there is no concrete or objective proof to demonstrate this. However, I too, share your concerns. In light of our common ground, I will share with you some of my hypothesis about that most frustrating of God's creatures, the Libera; (Americana Sapien)
Liberals judge EVERYTHING from their OWN vantage point, and ONLY this view. Example: I don't want to fly planes into other peoples buildings and killing them. If you sat me down, I could be talked out of that.
Liberals prefer CHOICES over DECISIONS, Liberals loves choices, but cannot make decisions and ex cute them. They must always be in this perpetual state of 'Option Paralysis'. To a liberal, OP is the state of enlightenment
Inversely, take-charge types, or decision-makers, are a liberals mortal enemy and worse fear. Whatever an individual does, once a liberal learns a person MAKES and executes decisions, there is no recourse. The liberal will engage in scorn with repeated attempts at a conversion process to Option Paralysis. It can get pretty stupid
Liberals LOVE and cherish their OWN freedom, but want to take away yours, they label this as protection you from yourself
there are more but this should be enough to explain the liberals' behavior

Answer 9

"teens are going to have sex anyway" is not nonsense. it is the truth.

we can either ignore the truth and teach abstinance to deaf ears. or we can be realistic and teach good safe sex habits because, and you guessed it, teens are going to have sex anyway.

as for your view of why abortion is legal i disagree. it's not legal because people are going to have them anyway, it's legal because the supreme court felt that a woman had control of her body therefore she could abort a pregnancy.

rape has nothing to do with that.

Answer 10

Morals, values and personal responsibility no longer matter any longer it seems. Why cant we teach kids that sex will result in pregnancy, I even agree that shoudl they choose to have sex, they should ALWAYS take precautions to prevent pregnancy and disease.