Is societal stigma contributing to the abortion decline?
by Kelli
[Pro-abortion activist Steph] Herold suggests that instead of focusing on the lowered abortion rate, we should be asking “how do people’s perceptions of their community’s social norms around pregnancy impact what they think they should do about an unintended pregnancy?” Herold knows that the greatest threat to abortion is not public policy mandating waiting periods or access to ultrasounds prior to abortion. She knows that the greatest threat to abortion is changing the culture of abortion — the norms, values, beliefs and behaviors that surround abortion… [and] the ways in which the hearts and minds of young women and young men have changed about the reality and the humanity of the unborn child….
It is difficult to say exactly why we are seeing these dramatic declines. A sociological explanation for this would suggest a shift in societal attitudes — a change in the hearts and minds of young women and men — in the pro-life direction….
It is likely that it is uncomfortable conversations like these that are leading to the change in hearts and minds — even in the most liberal states like Connecticut and California….
Now is the time to expand these conversations — no matter how difficult they are — because it may be the process of lawmaking itself that is contributing to the decline.
Even a loss at the legislative level can be a victory for the unborn child if the conversation surrounding the horror of abortion can begin again to stigmatize what should be a shameful act for all involved — including the lawmakers.
~ Sociology professor Anne Hendershott (pictured), Crisis Magazine, June 15
[Photo via tkc.edu]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
^this!^
The more the conversation carries on, the more that humanity’s natural revulsion to murdering innocents returns to our collective conscience. We win, even when we lose elections, legislation, and lawsuits. Because the conversations affect the only metric that matters: the number of women who choose life for their children.
However…. I am not happy about this talk of “stigma.” The stigma of abortion has never changed. Abortion has always been an embarrassing, secretive, guilty act.
The new thing is a restored awareness of the life and dignity of the child. See how Steph Herold careful avoids mentioning the child as she questions “people’s perceptions of their community’s social norms around pregnancy”?
Mothers are remembering that pregnancy = child. Meanwhile, increased awareness of the sleazy abortion industry is pressing the culture to see that abortion = hurt. And so the abortion numbers are declining.
I think it is interesting that at the same time sexual activity rates among teens and young adults are declining, as are drug-use statistics.
These all peaked in the “sexual revolution.” People are getting back to normal.
As actual abortion numbers go down some of the abortion apologists may panic and want to come out of hiding and talk! This is great news for babies.
Perhaps a widening of the split between the squeaky-clean political-class pro-aborts that think they can talk their way out of “their crisis” and those who know they can’t and just want them to shut-up so they can continue to quietly practice their dirty-handed trade by whatever means.
As long as the money is there and enforcement is lax, abortionists will go underground and keep on doing as they are doing now.
The only way to save lives and prevent harm to women is to educate young women about the dangers of abortion and to restore a culture of Life.
We need a culture in which mothers do not even think of abortion as an option that solves an unexpected child — the same way that we teach children that drugs are not an option to liven up their unhappy lives.
What should we teach the men?
Men will go along with whatever the women want. When women demand responsibility, men will do it.
Not sure what planet you are living on, Del.
Planet Angel One?
Yeah right. Lead like an Angel.
Earthlings:
In the modern world if a woman tries to demand responsibility from her man all on her own it will likely be met with failure…so there is your evidence that men won’t respond. Right?
I think what Del was saying was: When women as a group (not just an individual woman) begin to demand responsibility from all men…the men of this world will do it. Truth is **modern women aren’t demanding responsibility from men** so, yes, it sounds like a fantasy. It is a fantasy.
Modern feminism (as well as fertility control, abortion, and better STD healthcare) has made casual uninvolved sex seem less risky and less expensive for both men and women. So it is cheap. We can go elsewhere anytime…just check Google.
It is difficult to say exactly why we are seeing these dramatic declines.
This is not Steph Herold, from The Sea Change program, speaking – this is Anne Hendershott, the author of the article.
Is it really so “dramatic,” in the first place? Births and abortions have both declined. There are, to some extent, less wanted pregnancies and less unwanted pregnancies now. Okay, so….?
TheLastDemocrat: I think it is interesting that at the same time sexual activity rates among teens and young adults are declining, as are drug-use statistics.
These all peaked in the “sexual revolution.” People are getting back to normal.
The “sexual revolution” – this was really the 1960s and 1970s, no?
I don’t know how 2015 relates to that period, but in the present time there is more of a “hookup culture” than was the case 20 or 30 years ago.
People in their late teens and early 20s are having less sex with a spouse or regular partner, and more with casual dates or “pickups” and more with friends, as in “friends with benefits,” the overall rate being slightly higher now.
To say that “sexual activity rates among teens and young adults are declining” is incorrect, from what I can tell.
Hey Fantasy!
Here is a great quote from Eunice Kennedy: http://cityofangelsnativemission.com/PREGNANCYHELPCENTERS/A-PregnancyCenterList.htm
The more pro-lifers put on their websites that aid women, the more it is that people are realizing that there is a real charity there.
Alot of people treat these mothers like they are cold to kill their child, not knowing the pressures—which are intense and extreme and fashion abortion to look benign; a Fantasy solution.
When the reality hits for these women, it is anything but a fantasy, and all reality=the memory of the pain, the memory of the vaccume, the memory of the biohazard bag, of what their parent, lover, friend said to them to get them into the clinic. once pro-lifers connect more with the unsanitary reminders of death that cause these abortions, they hit the target = women in crisis, they are on the front line in the abortion wars. That is the widow and the orphan, and mroe often than not, its also the ‘girl next door.’
Del Sez: “To say that ‘sexual activity rates among teens and young adults are declining’ is incorrect, from what I can tell.”
Here are some pictures. You can follow the citations to the CDC data. For the first link they being at 1991 or so – when the Youth Risk Behavior Survey began.
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2014/10/another_look_at_abstinence_and_declines_in_teen_sexual_activity.html
http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/faculty/hodgson/Courses/so142/premarital/premaritalTs.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/09/16/teen-drug-and-alcohol-use-continues-to-fall-new-federal-data-show/
Link notes teen drug use declining – suggests overall trend to greater “moral” behavioral pattern. Not simply the advances of sexual education.
Birth control trends from 1990 to the present are pretty flat, taking birth control out of the equation…
http://www.childtrends.org/?indicators=birth-control-pill-use