If you want to cure our societies ills:
Stop child sexual abuse. . .
Stop objectifying children.
You will always have abortion, an after affect, when you grow your children to lust after empty meaningless sex.
Bog,
So sorry for your daughter's friend. That is pure tragedy. Her parent's must be going through hell right now.
The connection you make is very similar to the one that Pope Paul VI makes in his 1968 encyclical Humana Vitae. However, his view is not taken seriously outside of the Church because he taught that one of the majors roots that causes the abuse and objectification was birth control. Why, because the Church, as well as natural law, demonstrates an "inseparable connection, established by God, which man on his own initiative may not break, between the unitive significance and the procreative significance which are both inherent to the marriage act."
All that means is that you can't separate sexulaity (in general) from procreation (in general). Once sexual gratification is seen as an end unto itself, rather than part of the larger procreatice act, then certain consequences follow (just as its is wonderful to enjoy good food, but if we separate gratification of our hunger apart from nourishment we eat junk, get fat, and lose our health). The biggest consequences are:
1) Loss of respect for women ("a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection.")
2) Lowering of moral standards ("Not much experience is needed to be fully aware of human weakness and to understand that human beings—and especially the young, who are so exposed to temptation—need incentives to keep the moral law, and it is an evil thing to make it easy for them to break that law.")
3) Abuse of power (one child policy, third world sterilizations, sexualied sex-ed, etc.)
The Pope is not talking about consequences that would flow from one act of contraception, but the concequences that flow from the changed attitude about sexuality that come with the embrace of the technique.
Other consequences include:
- the wholesale recasting of irresponsible, destructive behavior would be as healthy and responsible (i.e., random sex is "responsible" so long as protection is used).
- Reconcieving of the body as something we own that we can manipulate as we please for our won ends (sterilization, masturbation, etc.)
But as you alluded to, the Pope's asking people (1) not to engage in premarial sex, (2) not to use birth control and control themselves within their marriage, and even (3) asking them to not kill their children in utero, is considered tantamount to "forcing them" to have tons of kids. Its also been blamed for the AIDS crisis, hatred against homosexuals, etc.
So I am certainly not expecting anyone to be convinced, I just thought it was an interesting connection. In fact, some might argue that the abuse of children is just an unfortunate biproduct of the fact that we finally have more access to sex. Just as a lot of crime occurs because of alcohol (but prohibition was a lousy idea and people should be able to get drunk if they want) and lots of murders happen with guns (thoughthat is certainly not the fault of law abiding gun owners), some kids are going to get hur by our new freedomst, but most, on the whole are better off.
To me, all this has nothign to do with whether abortion is murder, though. Either the child is a human being, and its murder, or she is not. If she isn't, our current situation is exceptable, if she is, than its wrong.
