RE: Is "Pro-Life" an Accurate Label?
Haven't read a ton of comments yet, but so far I've not seen anyone mention prevention. From my experience, no one I've ever met or talked to claiming to be pro life also agrees that contraceptives should be available - as it "leads to children having sex", etc. When all the studies done all over the world prove that the most religious parts of any country, and even city, where sex (outside of a religious marriage) is seen as dirty, disgusting, dangerous, etc... THAT'S where the most teen pregnancies, abortions, etc all exist. VS the areas where sex and the education around it is seen as more natural and not to be feared, where birth control and other contraceptives are taught and made available, all of those numbers drop so significantly it's almost unbelievable. There is definitely an agenda on both sides if you get too extreme on either end. But no matter how "light" or "hard" core a pro lifer is, at the root, there ALMOST always seems to be a root of religion behind it (and yes I know there are atheist pro lifers, that's why I said "almost"), and usually that religion teaches that sex outside a marriage is dirty, which causes kids to want to do it more, and they do - but they do it without the education or access to birth control - or if they're like me - are doing it but too afraid or ashamed to even buy condoms so they just have unprotected sex. If someone is truly anti unwanted pregnancies and anti abortion (pro life), then the very first logical step has to be preventing those things from happening... stop the pregnancies = stop the baby deaths... unfortunately, pro lifers seem to think the only way to prevent pregnancy is to stop sex from happening. They ignore all of the data right in front of them and continue in barbaric and archaic practices that only drive kids and teens further into sexual activity before they are truly "prepared". There is another way of prevention, and in every single place around the globe that it's being used, unwanted pregnancies and abortions are extremely lower than those where it's not...
Nice to see you on Steemit!
Yes, this is something @brettflorio has mentioned to me many times. I worked to keep the conversation in the philosophy category, but you're exactly right. Though I haven't looked at the data directly myself, I've heard it's quite compelling. In so many ways, problems are truly solved via education, not through force or dogma or restriction. Growth doesn't happen in the dark.
The religious motivations on this topic are huge and, in many ways, define the conversation. Even some of the replies in the comments here strayed off into discussions about young earth creation, Christ, religion, and concerns over science (often hand in hand with religion). If we all ignored data a little less and were a little more skeptical of the things we "know" which are in conflict with hard data... the world would be better off, IMO.