Actually, there is a need for society to judge people who make bad decisions. While it may seem cruel it is how a society functions. People who act outside the parameters of what that society deems to be responsible actions are stigmatized. It’s hurtful to the person who goes thru it, but it serves as a lesson to others. While this all seems very quaint and old fashioned it is what has always held cultures together.
It is far crueler for a culture to look the other way and destine more and more children to be aborted or to be raised in dire circumstances.
I do agree that it is through judgement that we as a society can create and uphold morals and appropriate behaviors. There is a time and place to educate our society about the hazards of sex outside of marriage, but that really isn’t what the pro-life cause should be about.
I have worked with many pregnant women, who are considering abortions. I provide prenatal care and try to talk them through their situation. Although their situations vary, they are all generally terrified, and confused about what to do.
My first success in talking a woman out of having an abortion came from a simple conversation where I told an 18 year old pregnant girl about my first baby’s birth, and that even minutes after the birth, my son would turn to the sound of my wife or my’s voice. She decided right then that she wanted to keep her baby. That was 12 years ago, and her beautiful daughter recently started middle school.
That mother left the abusive boyfriend, and lived on public assistance until her daughter was old enough to enter school. She is now a single mom that must work two jobs to support her daughter. They don’t have health insurance and her daughter is on state financed health care.
The reality is that this little girl is beautiful, smart and talented child, that has been raised in large part by taxpayer money. Her mother hasn’t gotten pregnant again, but she has had a couple live-in boyfriends, in spite of my objections. I consider this a success, because the little girl’s life was saved, but I know many here at FR would find it hard to see the success in this story.