Who can resist the invitation to abort an unwanted pregnancy for the child’s sake primarily, and not just the “health” of the mother? Let’s examine this frequently voiced contention: that aborting unwanted pregnancies is beneficial because they would later lead to abused children. And everyone, of course, is opposed to the maltreatment of kids.
The landmark study on this was done at the University of Southern California. Professor Edward Lenoski studied 674 consecutive battered children who were brought to the in- and out-patient departments of that medical center. He was the first to go to the parents and study to what extent they wanted and planned the pregnancy. To his surprise, he found that 91% were planned and wanted, compared to 63% for the control groups nationally. Further, the mothers had began wearing, on the average, pregnancy clothes at 114 days compared to 171 days in the control, and the fathers named the boys after themselves 24% of the time compared to 4% for the control groups. (Lenoski)
Both parents (or…
Abortion Not Necessary to Control Overpopulation
Abortion Not Necessary to Control Overpopulation
Time and again the media has proposed the reasonableness of an abortive mentality because it is consistent with maintaining the world’s population at a stable, feedable level. In order to examine the validity of this argument, it is necessary to look at related issues. To determine whether a nation is growing or dying, we must examine three factors: birth rate . . . death rate . . . immigration.
Birth Rate: This is the ultimate determinant. In a developed nation the average woman must bear 2.1 children (Mean Fertility Rate) in order to maintain a level population. In an undeveloped nation the rate must be 2.3 or more because of higher infant and child mortality.
Death Rate: In recent years fewer people have died than have been born in most countries because the average age of life expectancy has been extended. Everyone will die, of course, but for now this has resulted in increases in population.
Immigration and emigration: Many want to come into the U.S., Canada and most developed nations. Few want to move to Cuba, Libya or Russia. These dynamics explain why the total populations of the U.S., Canada and Australia (to pick three) are still growing, even though their birth rates are below replacement level. With a much higher percentage of their people aging, but still alive, most Western nations have a rapidly aging population. In the U.S. people born in 1970 had a life expectancy of 70 years. In 1993 it was 76 years. By 2050 it will be 82 years. (US News)
With heavy immigration to fill the younger age slots, we see a progressive change in ethnicity, e.g., the U.S. is becoming more Hispanic; Germany, France, Italy, Greece and Israel more Muslim. In Italy, the birth rate is 1.2, the lowest in the world in countries keeping accurate records. In ’93, there were 5,265 more Italians buried than were born. If this continues unchanged, within 100 years, its population will shrink from 57 to 15 million, with half of those over 65 years old.
Russia is worse. Accurate statistics are not available, but by the mid ’90s, estimates place the birth rate under 1.0 among non-Muslims and burials exceeding births at over 1 million per year. (Boston Globe)
But notice the change in age groups. There were four in the working years for each one retired.