While wondering around the house trying to get ready for school this morning I walked past the latest edition of The Aucklander East which had, on the front page, a caption entitled TEENS TELL… What I’d Do If I Was Pregnant At 16 accompanied by a picture of teen mother-to-be Keisha Castle-Hughes. They had asked a group of girls from what the paper called “deprived” areas what they would do if they were to get pregnant in their current situtation.
I totally agree with Norma Tinai from Mangere (16) who would abort the baby. “I’m definately not ready to bring up a child and it would be too much for my parents.” That is what I would do if that were to happen to me… in some alternate universe.
What REALLY confuses me is 4 out of 5 would go through with the pregnancy, which is not what I’m against, but is the fact that 3 of them wouldn’t terminate because of religious reasons. Jane Fasavalu (17) from Takanini, who is Christian, said that her parents would be shocked but also supportive, Ashley Singh (17), whose religion was not mentioned, said “I would have no choice but to keep the kid for religious reasons.” and Mandy Tanuvasa (18) from Mangere doesn’t believe in abortion due to her Morman upbringing.
I know for a fact that it is against Christian beliefs to have sex before marriage and a quick Google search also uncovered that Mormans also do not believe in sex before marriage. If they felt that it was ok to have sex before marriage then why don’t they also abort the child???? If they have already broken their religous law then why not just get rid of the evidence???? I know that sounds harsh but there are probably thousands of NZ Christian and Morman teens having sex even though their religion forbids it. So it’s ok to sin for pleasure but not to save your own life from one of perhaps poverty and being ostacized from ones religious community? Using the good book when it’s convenient, right?
A girl in Mangere is 10 times more likely to get preganant than a girl living in Botany. For every teen who aborts another decides to go through with the pregnancy. Teens who also decide to have a family are more likely to live in poverty than their aborting counter parts. <—- random facts.
My mother who used to work in a Mangere Fish n’ Chip Shop said that she had met an woman in her 50’s maybe who was buying food for her great-grand kids…… From an educated guess I would say she was supporting her children’s children’s children. At that age she would have had to been a teen pregnancy. If she had have gotten an abortion her life may have turned out completely different.
Tell me what you think…..
21 Comments
I’d have to agree with you although it obviously wouldnt be my choice, though if it were to happen I would certainly encourage to abort. I know there are arguments that it is murder but in my opinion a foetus has no life as it has no experiences and cannot feel at that stage when it is in the mother’s womb. Thats just my opinion, feel free to argue. Hope none of us have to make that decision,
Henry
Wow…controversial topic Novia, well done.
The reason we don\’t believe in abortions is because the abortioned (aka the fertilised embryo/foetus) is a life, with soul - which to us would indicate murder. This is obviously against the 10 Commandments.
There is the debate over a baby being a \”person\”until late in the pregnancy however it\’s Christian beliefs that God creates each and every person in the mother\’s womb. This means that as soon as an ovum is fertlised, the foetus has a soul, created by God. An abortion would be killing his child.
I would support this with quotes from the bible but:
My first point ^^ hope you like.
wow this is a really good entry ! I would have to say i agree with most of the stuff u said about teen pregnancies , I mean why potencialy ruin ur life … for the sake of ur religion, Which u have already disregarded by gettin pregnant . However i have to add that sometimes having a baby is not always a bad thing , i have seen a number of incidents where young ppl have gained alot through caring for a child . lol i think im blabbing
… hmm well it will b interstin to c the rest of the comments !
Rebecca, with Christianity you aren’t banned from the God when you disregard your religion. You repent about what you did and try to raise the child as a child of God.
For the sake of my religion? I would rather live in poverty for 18-25 years (or even my whole life) and still be seen as a child of the Lord and make it to the new Earth (Heaven) than decide to save myself some trouble and go Hell for oblivion.
that kinda lowered my day’s happiness.
i remember when all those girls were jealous of keisha castle-hughes..
i was just thinking.. if you’re in the mind to have sex without protection then you’ll make decisions you never expected, so it could be understandable why some girls decide to keep their child.
i dunno… life is messed up.
I’d have to agree with ludwig on both because 1 im catholic and 2 i thinks its wrong to abort a child have u seen pictures on how its done .its so cruel.eww.but i mean it doesnt totally ruin your life you give the child away and let it be adopted ,that way ur happy and so are other ppl so yea thats what i think
Thomas good point about adoption, that’s what I would do if I was a girl in theposition of making a choice between abortion or not.
As an atheist I can’t say im exactly an expert on religion but surely if you do abort and then ” repent about what you did” is that not still okay? Or are you allowed to push the limits but not step over the ten commandments line? Please clarify because I’m sure I’m not the only one confused
Sure you can just repent but that’s like cheating the system.
The thing about repentence is it must be heart-felt and sincere. You can’t cheat the system because making a decision like that means you won’t be sincere in asking forgiveness. Ofcourse if you abort and realise afterward that you made a big mistake and sincerely repent then yes you are forgiven.
And the 10 commandments are simple guidelines as to what not to do, not the only rules you arent allowed to break, ever. There isn’t a heirarchy in the types of sin you can commit - murder isn’t a bigger sin than lying. Sin is sin. So sinning means you have overstepped the boundaries.
Please note:
The people cited in the article have not actually been in this situation. They are saying what they would do. I think if a
christionchristian person was to get into this situation they wouldn\’t care much for the \”system\” anywayWould they repent every other time after they had sex?
Think about it this way, this is the one time they get caught and this forces them to repent their sin. If they didn’t get pregnant would they have repent?
It’s like apologising only after you’ve been caught.
I like your point Novia. I’m curiuos to see the comeback for that one
One) A real Christian wouldn’t get themselves in the position of being pregnant or having sex before marraige becuase they know it is wrong. So if they do it constantly then they aren’t really Christian, and definately won’t be repenting in earnest.
Two) If they happen to make a wrong choice, ie to have sex before marraige, and they repent earnestly then they will be forgiven.
I think that is so immoral. It is not like having sex is accidental. (whoops i slipped in) No. How could you possibly repent in earnest if you made that choice. It was no-one else’s choice (if it was it would be rape) so how is it right that it is possible to be forgiven for something you had absolute power over? What about murder? Whoops i killed a person, I’m sorry, can I go to heaven now?
People make choices that they regret. Sure, at the time the person thought that what they were doing was OK, or they knew it was wrong but they did it anyway. As long as they repent in earnest (as in they truly are sorry for what they did then God will forgive them. Same with a murderer.
Sure, you can make a choice having total-control over your body and mind, it doesn’t mean you won’t ever regret or be sorry for making the choice.
So do you think if a murderer or rapist is truly sorry he should be allowed to be in society and not go to prison?
No, though they may be sorry, they must still pay the price for their actions.
And to the “then howcome can they be forgiven without consequence in God’s eye”?
Well they’ve paid their price to society - why should they be doubley-charged? Yea, at first I thought it was strange that murderers went to heaven but people change. Why blame someone for a decision that they regret and have payed the price for!
Ludwig vs Henry
Religion vs Science
So let’s see where we’ve been. It all started with abortion and how religious girls wouldn’t get abortions ‘cos it’s against their religion which they seemed to have disregarded by getting pregnant then it went on to if abortion was moral and now it’s all about how people can repent their sins even though they knew what they were doing and that it was against what they “believe” in (if they truly believed then they wouldn’t do it.)
Like Ludwig said a true Christian would avoid situtations such as that.
With God everyone has a second chance even if they’ve ruined other’s lives forever which can never be returned to what it was once? I don’t know bout others but when someone has seen “the light” and are a born again Christian after they have committed something as serious as murder I feel that it’s just a way of getting society to see that they aren’t actually guilty and that because they have served their sentence and feel sorry for what they have done they can get away with it. Obviously sometimes they have actually changed but it won’t make things go back to how they were.
Well just because someone is a ‘born again’ Christian, doesn’t mean they will gain credibility in society. And it doesn’t mean they get away with it. The judiciary system is there to punish people for their crimes. If they served their time, then they haven’t gotten away with it. They paid their debt to society. If the judiciary system fails, don’t blame God - blame the judiciary system.
Everyone makes choices. And those choices have consequences. Yes, sometime those consequences affect not only the person who made the choice. And this means the person who made the choice has topay. But once they’ve paid their debt - why can’t they get on with their life?
How could God be a god of love, if he didn’t give people the second chance. Ok - the person ended the life of another. But if they have paid that debt (again, this is up to the judiciary system) then why should their life be destroyed because of a wrong choice?
First of all Id like to say nice arguing ludwig and i agree with evrythng youve said so far. Id also like to say that sex can be accidental. Half the time people dont realise wat their doing and they gt caught in the “moment” not that thats an excuse.Id also like to agree with wat ludwig said, if you repent with sincerity (sowi cnt spel) and with the will and determination dat u wnt do (hav sex) dat again then god will forgive you or he wouldnt b the all forginving god dat he is. I also agree with ludwig in the sense that if someone has paid there debt and really has changed then they should be forgivn and there sin forgotten. Everyone deserves a second chance and no one has the rite to judge anyone because the only person with the ryt to judge is god himself
dayam~ long as comments…for me…i know some christian person…who got pregnant…and then she aborted…she didn’t regret it…but having carried the baby for over 3 months…the baby’s heartbeat…and your heart beat are as one…the feeling of carrying a baby might be a burden for a __ year old…but can’t really do anything if you’re poor…also…yea…repentance…humans are sinners…and that cannot be changed…we might repent…but we end up doing it again anyways…however…in a situation like this…once you’ve repented…there is NO way that she will ever do it again until she really wants one…but…if she aborted at such a young age…it will be hard to give birth to another…God…is a forgiver…He forgives and forgets…but if you do it too many times…he will take into account…but wouldn’t cause you harm…just placing tests along the way…for you to learn and truly repent over what you’ve done…thats how i think…
why am i writing in such an old post…no one reads this aye?!