Scotty,
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In my opinion abortion is equivilant to murder, if not at least manslaughter. Maybe we should do away laws against those and just address the underlying issues. Of course that would be the absense of God in their life which we can't allow government to have anything to do with even though our soveriegn Lord is mentioned as the corner stone of our freedom in several historical documents that we now use to take Him out of our lives. (see the hypocrisy?)
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Scotty, you're jumping to extremes. Murder and manslaughter are a little different than abortion. In a pregnancy two lives are so intertwined they cannot be separated. Most people would agree that the health and wellbeing of the mother trumps the rights of the fetus legally. On a moral level I hate abortion. I would love to see abortion eliminated from our society. I don't think that a mere ban on abortion will resolve things. We need to address the issues that cause women to feel they need to abort. By doing so we can greatly reduce the rate of abortion in our country. Once the abortion rate is low enough it will be far easier to place legal restraints on it. My point is...put women first. Address their needs. Reduce the need and occurance of abortion. Then focus on legal restraints. Countries have banned abortion and still had very high abortion rates. I'm proposing something more akin to a step by step resolution that will focus on reducing abortion rats and end with legal restraints on abortion.
Comparitive studies on abortion rates demonstrate that abortion's legality has no bearing on the abortion rate of a country. For example, our abortion rate is lower today in the US than it was before Roe. How do we explain this? We're addressing more issues women face today than we were back in the 60's and 70's. There's still some work to be done however.
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Nobody is saying we can or even want to change the worlds ways or even our country for that matter. We are not to build up treasures here for we are just passing through, yet I still see alot of sense in trying to have as much of a hospitable place to live as I possibly can while I'm here.
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I've been outside of the US. Let to assure you Canada is far more hospitable than the US. We hate eachother here. The gays hate Christians and Christians hate gays, Republicans hate Democrats and Democrats hate Republicans, Conservatives hate liberals and liberals hate conservatives. It's crazy here in the US. You can't even watch the News without feeling the "strife". My wife and I have been visiting Canada nearly every year for about six years. I can honestly say they are more laid back, open, friendly, and seem to have a greater sense of unity than we do in the US. I predict that the US will fall far behind Europe and Canada in economics, health care, education, and in over all quality of life within my son's lifetime.
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Now here is where we really part ways. You think the government should not get involve in how we live our lives, yet they should, with my hard earned money take care of those who live their lives in a way that they can't take care of themselves.
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Here's where you're not seeing the "big picture". We have nearly 50 million uninsured in the United States. These people still go to the emergency rooms when sick or injured. And guess what...they get treatment and they're billed for it. But here's what happens...they cannot pay their bill. The health care providers aren't going to just eat the loss...the increase the cost of health care to make up for the loss. When the cost of health care increases health insurance companies have to increase premiums to pay for the increased cost of health care. When the insurance premiums go up...more people find that they cannot afford health insurance. So now you have more uninsured people going to the emergency room when sick or injured. They get treatment. Then they can't pay their bill. The hospitals don't eat the loss...they increase their cost of health care yet again to cover the loss. When the cost of health care increases again health insurance companies have to increase their health insurance premiums again to cover the increased cost. When companies increase their health insurance premiums MORE people find that they cannot afford health insurance and now you have MORE uninsured...guess what...they go to emergencies rooms....and the pattern repeats itself. The truth is...YOU'RE ALREADY PAYING FOR THE UNINSURED. That's why your premiums are so high. But here's the deal. The uninsured aren't getting regular inexpensive treatment. They're going to emergency rooms (the most expensive form of care) and finding more advanced health problems that require more expensive treatments. On top of that profit margins come into play...the companies tack on a percentage to make a profit. So in the current system you're not only already paying for the uninsured...you're paying for them in the most expensive manner possible.
Now if the government presented a national health insurance plan covering all Americans, all health care providers would be paid. This means they wouldn't be passing on increasing losses to you in higher costs. This will bring the cost of health care down. Private companies would then be able to afford lowering premiums because health care would be less expensive. Right now in the United States a national health insurance program would cost us less in taxes than the current system is costing us in premiums. Also in a national health insurance program records and paper work are centralized and accessable by whatever doctor you choose to see. No so right now. Right now you have to fill out all the same paperwork every time you visist the doctor. Your records are scattered throughout health care providers. In the United States over 30% of health care costs are in relation to redundant administrative functions of multiple private industries. All of these factors are why the United States pays nearly 16% more on health care than any nation in the world yet doesn't provide the quality that found in Europe.
So in closing...you're already paying a "hidden tax" that cares for the uninsured. Also you're paying more in premiums and over all costs and co-pays than you would in taxes if we moved to a national health insurance program. And as the cost of health care in the US continues to rise this becomes even more relevant. That's why it's becoming more and more of an issue.
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