[cratermoon]

Well that's exactly my point. Does the OP want us to take a political position about this statistic, and if so, why? What's their agenda. There are many possible viewpoints to push. My personal viewpoint is that if it's by choice, it's none of my business. For whatever fraction of these are not by choice, then what is that fraction, and what are the social and economic reasons.

I'm not sure why the anti-abortion crowd would be thrilled, unless this is an indicator of decreasing numbers of single moms. Oh and of course one must also ask "why is marriage (as opposed to committed life partners, or some other arrangement) important, and how is "married" determined?"

[aifooh7Keew6xoo]

> I'm not sure why the anti-abortion crowd would be thrilled

I think the bible is a lot more prescriptive when it comes to abortion than sex outside of marriage, but I'm not exactly a scholar and that's far from the only reason for taking a stance on the issue

Your points are all valid, but I do think there's a component of fixed meaning that projects itself in relation to multiple perspectives and agendas

That said, I couldn't tell if the number was increasing or decreasing with a glance at the underlying data cited

I'm assuming it's an increase because it seems kind of high and correlated statistics like marriage rates have to my knowledge also been decreasing in recent decades

I'm further assuming that's probably a bad thing because positive outcomes are generally correlated with multiple parents and higher family incomes

But if non-traditional family arrangements are supplanting married families then who knows

[btilly]

You say prescriptive, but what does the Bible prescribe?

The word abortion appears zero times. As https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12178933/ points out, the clearest reference is to miscarriage. And there the fetus is valued at far less than a human life.

Just because a religion has taken a position on a topic doesn't mean that their religious texts agree.

[aifooh7Keew6xoo]

Well, I understand it's pretty clear on killing:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thou_shalt_not_kill

Certainly whether or not abortion qualifies as killing is a matter of interpretation, but judging from signs I've driven by I'd say it's not an unpopular interpretation

[btilly]

Most people are pretty clear on killing. What does or doesn't qualify as killing is the central question.

No matter how popular the interpretation may be, the Bible *DOES NOT* prescribe a viewpoint on whether abortion is killing. Quite the opposite in fact. What little is said relating to it in the Bible is evidence that abortion is something *LESS* than killing.

It is perfectly valid to believe that abortion is murder. But arguments that the Bible says so are based on invalid logic.

[cratermoon]

I'm not one of those atheist edgelords who likes to trash the Bible based on a few choice verses, but I do acknowledge the rampant contradictions inevitable in a work so constructed: Deuteronomy 20: "when the Lord your God delivers it into your hands, put every male in it to the sword;" and Joshua 7-12 describing the genocide of the Canaanites.

There are even verses in the New Testament that some interpret as giving permission to use violence in self defense, an interpretation I reject: Matthew 10:34 and Luke 22:36

So no, the Bible is not especially clear on killing, either.