Quote (thundercock @ 4 May 2022 21:17)
A lot are, especially in the Catholic church. If a woman weeps for aborted fetuses, I'm not going to question the sincerity of her belief and I'm going to assume it comes from a place of compassion. Many of those people STRONGLY support adoption, expanded childcare, etc. There's a reason why many on the right want to expand benefits for families. In my experience, your average pro-lifer genuinely wants to help children. I also think you need to distinguish between VOTERS and the people creating the policy. You're not wrong that many elected officials are full of shit and they often ignore the will of the voters.
As to the question why they oppose pragmatic measures, there are a number of reasons:
1) They could simply be misinformed and they would say something like "condoms don't work and only encourage more sex"
2) They may believe that alternative paths exist that haven't been tried (how many times have we heard from libertarians that we've never REALLY had a free market lol)
It should not surprise you that many Americans will vote for things that are actually COUNTER to their belief system when you look at the practical effects of the policy.
i'm not talking about sheltered bible karens, unaware of how broken and cruel the foster care and adoption systems are, unable to imagine how different and destitute other parts of america are, thinking it's right to force their narrow set of morals and simplistic understanding of life on everyone, i'm talking about conservative lawmakers opposing social safety nets and financial support for mothers and children, opposing comprehensive sex ed and affordable healthcare, measures KNOWN to decrease teen pregnancies and abortions overall.
i'm talking about people like you and santara, fully aware of the consequences and motivations of this kind of legislation, and still supporting it, deluding yourselves that it's morally right, rather than predictably cruel and discriminatory.
the rest of the civilised world, societies that actually care about and protect children, and support young mothers, all guarantee the right to abortion. you know why? because the idea that a woman just flippantly decides to "murder a baby" is nothing but anti-choice propaganda by religious zealots. educated and compassionate people know that women choosing this option are often in incredibly desperate situations, and forcing them to have a child (even if it's the result of a rape or incest) can be devastating. also, it is simply not the government's decision to make.
it's funny how american christian fundamentalists' jesus is basically the exact opposite of new testament jesus...