Is the abortion issue strictly a religious one?

Answer 1

Only for religious people. Abortion LAW applies to EVERYONE, regardless of religion, and according to the 14th Amendment, people do not have a Constitutional right to life UNTIL BIRTH.

Even the Bible declares that man became a living soul when the BREATH of life was BREATHED through his NOSTRILS. Fetuses don't do that. God repeatedly COMMANDED his followers to kill people of all ages, and killed millions himself - more than Hitler. The Biblical God clearly does NOT have any respect for human life.

Answer 2

I read a very interesting article that touches on your question. I'm not going to be able to quote it accurately or as eloquently, but here goes a shot:

The women's movement and the sexual revolution, with the introduction of birth control and legalized abortion have changed the face of our society and the family structure in ways that could never have been foreseen. It affects all of us as a society, no matter what we believe about it.

A few generations ago, the accepted and expected options for a woman with an unplanned pregnancy would be to
a) get married to the father
b) put the baby up for adoption

Keeping a child out of wedlock carried so much stigma and there was so little support for it that it was rarely done.
Abortions were illegal, secret, and unsafe, so too risky a choice for most women. Reliable birth control wasn't available.

Ok, so things are so much better for women the way they are now, right? Wait, let's think about it. The social attitude has almost completely reversed between adoption and single parenting. With the open adoption laws and the negative social attitudes towards it, many single mothers feel that the only two options are abortion or keeping the baby. The legalization and ease of abortions has pushed adoption out as the reasonable alternative to keeping the child. The other thing is has done is pretty much take the dads off the hook. If the daddy to be can convince the mama to be to have an abortion, he can dodge the responsibility. So how is this better for women? Either they have to bear the physical trauma and emotional guilt of having an abortion, or they get stuck raising a baby they weren't ready for? The "shotgun weddings" are all pretty much a thing of the past, since the other alternatives of single parenthood and abortion have become more accepted in society....again it's the guys who get off the hook? And who is responsible for purchasing and remembering to take the birth control? Again, it's the women.
Oh, and now with all this easy birth control and abortion, the pressure on women to have casual sex in order to get or keep a man is so much greater, because guys know that girls know that if she won't put out, there are plenty of others that will, and the arguments she might have made before for waiting can be more easily refuted.

No, abortion is a women's issue; it's a family issue; it's a gender gap issue; it's a social and moral issue; and it has become increasingly a political issue. Even the woman used in the case of Roe v Wade admits now that she was manipulated and used to further this agenda, and has switched sides in this debate. It's another way for men to control women (and somehow convince them that they are liberated.) It's sad that too many women out there don't get this until it's too late.

Answer 3

Abortion is strictly a personal moral issue, not a religious issue and definitely not a legal issue. Morals and ethics are not religious in nature at all. Societies long before current religions came into existance all had societal norms and morals that were followed.

Answer 4

Abortion is a religious issue, because the basis of opposition to abortion is the theological question of when personhood begins. Organized religion, primarily the Catholic Church and the "religious right," is the backbone of the anti-abortion movement and is a cause for great concern among pro-choice religions, who see anti-abortion laws as a violation of religious liberty.

If "person" were defined as beginning at conception, then abortion would be the crime of murder. Women's bodies, rights and health would be subordinated to the protection of the embryo. No abortions would be permitted for any reason, including rape or incest. Each miscarriage would have to be investigated. The legal consequences of such an amendment would be catastrophic.

Answer 5

No it isn't, take for example my Country (Dominican Republic).
Dominican State is Catholic, therefore abortion is illegal. However next week, the congress is planing on making abortion legal. Action plans? yes, lots, movements, protests and stuff, but surprisingly it's just 40% of catholics and like 20% of other christians and religions; lots of other ppl that don't empathize with a particular religion are also going on the streets to fight for the right to live.

Answer 6

Not from my prespective. Althought religious convictions play a part, so does humanity for the unborn,...(abortion IS painful and destructive to the fetus, it involves 'sucking it from the womb, ripping it to pieces, or chemical burning to death, others are forced into birth just to be placed on a table waiting for death) personal responsibility, and the failure to prevent an unwanted pregnancy. Yes, I realize that thousands of women in the US are victims of rape or abuse, but the US "performs" MILLIONS of abortions in a year's time.

Sometimes I wonder about the women who suffer guilt afterward. Who is in their corner? What about the woman who suffers damages to her reproductive organs? What recourse does she have? What could that child have been?

One question that I do not see being addressed is "WHERE IS THE DADDY, WHY IS HE NOT STEPPING UP TO THE PLATE AND BEING A MAN?

Strictly religious? No, I think not...........

Answer 7

Of course not!
It is a question of what is moral and ethical.
Is abortion "murder"? Is it OK to murder your infant if you did not intend to get pregnant/are not ready to raise a child at this time?
If it is OK to murder your infant because a pregnancy at this time is "inconvenient" for you, why is it not OK to euthanise your grandmother whose health care/nursing home is costing you out the yazoo?
And when do we talk about the damn neighbors who make your life miserable?
Once you make it OK to kill a human being for the "crime" of causing an inconvenience in your life, where does it end?

EDIT:
Arklatexrat said it! Abortion "rights" are just one more way that men have used, abused, and oppressed women down through the ages. What it does is gives men unlimited sex with no responsibility...and we are stupid enough to think that it is a "woman's right"!
DOH!!

Answer 8

The answer to your question is no--if a non-religious person can believe that the taking of a human life is wrong.

Answer 9

No, it belongs entirely in the realm of science with the religious people being completely unqualified to say anything on the issue.

Answer 10

Yes it is. Theist have an unsubstantiated assumption that there is a thing called a soul and it begins at conception. I don't believe in a soul and there is no evidence to the contrary. The question of when a human becomes a human is a theological question.

Answer 11

No. I am a Witch and my reasons for being pro-choice have nothing to do with my faith. In fact, I am against abortion but am still pro-choice. How is that possible? Well think of what the alternative is... Some mothers really are that desperate to have an abortion. Should we let them shove hangers up their vaginas like we used to before abortion was legal? That's a tad gruesome. While I think abortion is terrible and is the termination of a beautiful facet of human life, the death of an already living human being because of her fear of whatever in childbearing is much worse.