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I’ve been involved in an abortion debate that started simply because I commented on how Russia prefers to encourage their people to have children instead of how we in the U.S. choose to abort them. I have been told that I’m depriving the poor people of Russia the ability to get out of poverty, that I’m not thinking of the children, and that my religious views have clouded my judgement.
The current thread of that discussion is talking about definitions– what is a baby, what is a fetus, is it alive or a glob of cells– and although that would also be an interesting discussion (some of which we’ve been through before), I’d like to take you back to the start of the discussion– the impact of abortion on the country as a whole.
You see, we in America are following after our European brothers and are facing a critical situation– The current birthrate in America is less than what is needed to maintain our population level.
For two decades we have been below zero population growth. Every day more people die in America than are born. Any increases in population since 1972 have been due to immigration. The sociological perils we face are not those of population explosion, but population reduction.
But that’s the U.S. In Russia, it’s far worse:
In April of 2000 the Russian State Statistics Committee issued a monthly report stating that the country’s death rate is twice as high as its birth rate. The country literally shrinks by 2500 people each day. The decreasing number of people, especially young and productive workers, will only increase the economic and security problems in Russia.
If the current birth and death rates stabilize, in 2050 Russia will have 116 million people compared to 147 million today. Since 1994 approximately 70 percent of all pregnancies ended in abortion. One in five Russian couples are infertile, partly because of lasting health effects abortions can have on a woman’s body.
It makes you sick. It also makes you wonder who is the heartless one– the one that argues against abortion, or the one that argues for abortion at any cost?
And then there’s the problem of the effect of abortion on the economy of a nation. You see, abortion has a way of propagating through the generations. The child that you kill today will not be able to have children tomorrow. In turn, that child will also not have grandchildren.
Countries with low replacement rates are trying to do something about it– that should tell you something. France offers child bearing incentives. Russia (as was mentioned) is having camps and special days hoping for conceptions and babies. Why? Because our children are the key to the future.
Our children will be the ones caring for us when we’re old. They’re the ones that will be working, paying taxes, and paying for the support we will have in the future.
Legalized abortion has resulted in over 20 million fewer taxpayers in America to support the elderly. “Population loss from abortion on demand is already responsible for past and future economic, employment and tax revenue losses and is eroding the solvency of Social Security.”
Again, look at the numbers:
In 1980 there were over four people of wage-earning age for each retired person; in 2020 there will be only two. By 2040 there will be one and a half.
Looking at the numbers, abortions are foolish for at least two reasons:
- They are selfish, putting themselves in front of the life of their child
- They are eliminating what will supply the country with funds in the future.
Some choice, eh?
Unless otherwise credited, facts taken from
Pro-Life Answers to Pro-Choice Arguments Expanded & Updated
What amazes me is that in the US people still think there is an over population problem!
Perhaps the reason we are seeing such a strong return to the issue of contraception and allowing the Lord to plan your family size, is because the Holy Spirit is convicting Christians of the plight of humanity… and is actively encouraging Christians to reproduce in ways that will have long standing future ramifications!
Just a theory.
Mrs. Meg Logan
Sorry, but “facts” that come from a Christian author don’t automatically hold water with me. If you could point me in the direction of the peer-reviewed, scientific studies he used to make his claims, I might give him a second chance.
I think that your middle name should be changed to “Peer-reviewed”.
I knew that I’d get into trouble by not including all the footnotes in this post, and I’ll rectify that shortly.
Might not be a bad idea. It comes mainly from my graduate work: you can’t site a source that hasn’t been peer-reviewed and/or published in a reputable journal. When you deal with hot button issues such as abortion and the like, “because I said so” really doesn’t fly.
I await the footnotes!
I will be physically away until Tuesday, so I would not expect to see them until them, but I will get to them.
I think the situation in Russia is almost hopeless, after so many years of godless practice in USSR. Nothing was sacred, a child’s life least of all. Between her friends, my mother was maybe the only one who never had an abortion, and definitely the only one who didn’t let difficult circumstances sway her to get an abortion. Thanks, Mom!