peterr@utcsrgv.UUCP (Peter Rowley) (03/07/84)
Hear hear for Martin Taylor (dciem!mmt)! I have considerable respect for people who cherish life, for religious or other reasons, and cannot condone abortion (or poverty, or the arms race) because of that belief. I do not agree with them entirely, but I respect them. But the conservatives who simultaneously say the life of the fetus is sacred AND cry out for more arms, for less spending on medicare, daycare, and school lunches, AND want less strict environmental laws (leading to more cancer, asbestosis, emphysema-- all causing slow and painful death) AND support a US foreign policy that supports death squads in El Salvador are, plain and simple, damnable hypocrites, apparently interested far more in seeing their dogma accepted than anything remotely to do with the preservation of life. If they really want to show that they cherish life, let them act to protect and *enhance* the lives of people already born. Without such a committment, their anti-abortion rhetoric is, to my ears, just myopic support of tradition, or worse (e.g. sexual punishment, as has been discussed). I think all would agree that the world would be better off if we didn't need abortions-- if all pregnancies were planned. It is truly sad that the attitudes of conservatives who neither teach birth control at home nor want it taught in school lead to unplanned pregnancies-- and the need for abortion. p. rowley, U. Toronto