I can agree with this as a Catholic. A majority of Catholics tend to be pro-life, but that just tends to be the older Catholics. Some of the younger Catholics have more malleable beliefs that contradict the majority of the older population's beliefs, but overall, younger Catholics tend to be more progressive. Personally for me, I understand the necessary evil of abortion from the academic and economical point of view. I may not agree with it, but I'm also not going to stop someone from getting one if they choose to get one. On the academic point of view, I understand that if abortion becomes criminalized, it will be exactly like Prohibition, where people who want to get an abortion will still get one, except that they'll seek more illicit ways of getting one. On the economic point of view, it would be a bigger burden to society for someone to not get an abortion. If someone cannot afford to raise the baby because of lack of funding, lack of a safe environment, etc., they'll most likely dump the baby somewhere else, and that would cost more for society as a whole. Besides, the world right now is overpopulated, and we honestly don't have the resources on this planet to continue with the trend of births. On the emotional point of view, I also understand why people still don't tend to get abortions as common as people on the right believe, mainly because of the social stigma of getting an abortion. Hell, I've seen one of my friends back out of getting an abortion of her rapist's baby, mainly because her family and the religious people here shamed her out of it by calling her a whore and that people like her are the reason for why the world is going to Hell. I wouldn't get an abortion (I physically can't seeing as I'm a male), but I'm not going to stop another person from getting one. I also wouldn't shame them from getting one, because I understand that it's a tough decision that no one really wants to go through unless they really need one. Overall, while I don't personally support abortion, I'm not going to be a complete and utter douchebag and shame someone out of getting one. I'm also not going to try and force someone to not get one. If I had an SO and she wanted to get an abortion, I'd weigh in the options: Are we ready for the baby? Are we financially stable/can we afford to raise a baby? Do we live in a safe environment that will allow us to raise the baby with little to no problems? Will we be able to have the support network that will ensure us that the baby will grow up successful? Do we even have a plan to raise the baby? I would go through all of these, and consult with my SO, weigh her choices out and if she also agrees, we would keep the baby. If we were going to suffer rather than benefit from it, I would respect my SO's decision because it would overall be a net positive for us rather than negative. I'm also a much more fluid version of Catholics like many of the younger Catholics that I spend time with. We understand that the world is rough right now, and we also realize that if we're 100% pro-life and anti-abortion, we're just contributing to the disservice that's associated with Christianity and its sects as being close-minded and not willing to think two steps ahead because of fear of the unknown and being unable to critically think.

This is why I'll frequently say that I have my issues with the Catholic Church....but I really don't have any problems with Catholics. The issue isn't one of faith...but one of authoritarianism. In some of my more cynical moments, I think that the reason why so many Baptists and Evangelicals love to quote the Old Testament, is because they never got around to actually reading the New Testament or the Gospels. So....... [quote] Hell, I've seen one of my friends back out of getting an abortion of her rapist's baby, mainly because her family and the religious people here shamed her out of it by calling her a whore and that people like her are the reason for why the world is going to Hell.[/quote] ....while I find such stories deeply sad, I can't say that I find them ---and their UTTER lack of compassion for the plight of the woman----very shocking. You're friend got violated twice. Once by her attacker. A second time by those who claimed to love her. With friends and loved one's like that, who needs enemies?

I've personally been more geared towards more things that improve my personal goals for happiness such as volunteering more. I like going to church, but I find it more spiritually cleansing to do something I love doing: serving my community. I haven't been going to church recently mainly because of work and other obligations, but I do try to do things that make up for that, like doing rosaries once a week, or going to events that are related to serving others. For that example, I started becoming more disillusioned by the older Catholics and started questioning whether they were always right or not. That was around the time I was in high school, when I was a devout follower who wouldn't question what my elders would do or say, but after seeing that kind of pain inflicted on my friend, it made me start questioning if my elders were always the wisest and always made the right decisions. It may sound disrespectful, but I've noticed that I've become a lot more blunt when it came to criticizing even the people who share the same beliefs as I do. I don't know if it was big news to others, but at least to me, what the Pope said recently was pretty damning and just put a huge chunk of the older Christian/Catholic population on full blast: [url=https://www.christianpost.com/news/pope-francis-it-is-better-to-be-an-atheist-than-a-churchgoing-christian-who-hates-others.html]It's better to be an Atheist than to be a Churchgoer/believer who has their heart full of hate[/url]. The Pope, while he does have his own judgments, has been seen as unpopular by the older traditional and conservative Catholics, while he has a more favorable light towards the younger Catholics. Pope Francis has been much more different than previous Popes since he has been more progressive in social policy and inclusion rather than trying to separate others. He understands that the world is changing, and that the Church must also change to not just assimilate into modern society, but also to give people a reason to be a follower. One of my friends that I met in college was a devout Catholic before he immigrated here from the Philippines. The main reason why he doesn't really ID himself with Catholics is because the rigidity of traditional Catholicism, and the hypocrisy that older Catholics either knowingly or unknowingly commit. He's still a spiritual person, but he doesn't ID himself with a label that's starting to have a more negative connotation associated with it. It's similar to me, but I still consider myself a devout Catholic: I don't agree with many of the things that the older Catholic community shares since it's seen as negative, but I still have the belief and try to put some of it into practice, such as serving the community and sharing the word of God to someone who wishes to learn about it rather than trying to force it down others' throats if they don't want to hear it. Hopefully there are younger Catholics who also share this same sentiment, because the traditional Catholicism was good for back in the day, but in today's society, that kind of mentality of is more of a poison than it is a remedy (in my opinion); it goes against the flow and does more damage than it does help the Catholic church.

The fact you can justify killing unarmed people on a whim is despicable.

People in your opinion. I don’t consider a cell the size of a pin head to be a person. And a woman doesn’t sacrifice her human rights the moment she has sex. #AHandmaid’sTale So don’t presume to take my moral inventory unless you’re willing to do the same hypocrite.

[quote]People in your opinion. I don’t consider a cell the size of a pin head to be a person. [/quote] You sound like a slave owner from the 1800's

Zygotes don’t talk. Or think. And as someone whose ancestors were those salves I am even more deeply offended by your arrogant hypocrisy. Because your blind to the fact that you’re treating the woman like the breeding machines my ancestors were treated like.

*hits blunt* Oh?

Cut back.

Good, be offended and No abortions happen when the baby is a zygote

RU-486. IUDs. Any more questions?

About 2 percent of abortions happen in the first 3-5 weeks

And 90% happen in the first trimester when the embryo looks more like a fish than a human and is the size of a [i]guppy[/i] in a tropical tank. But hey that little guppy is more valuable and important than the adult [i]woman[/i] it’s attached to apparently.

0.65% of abortions happen because the life of the mother was endangered 0.085% happen because of -blam!- 92% happen for no reason (elective) https://abort73.com/abortion_facts/us_abortion_statistics

And what business is it of yours? And what give you the right to impose your morality on the rest of us, authoritarian?

It's unconstitutional

Smh. Wow. You are so -blam!-ing wrong on the facts I don’t even know where to begin. That’s what scares me about people like you. You live in a fantasy world where facts—real facts and disciplined thought don’t matter—-and you’ll believe anything that reinforces what you wish to believe is true. Read my lips:

Tell me where it says in the Constitution of the United States of America that you can kill people

Article 1. Grants Congress the power to declare war. But it’s a non sequitur since there is no moral consensus on the legal personhood of embryos...and as usual, you sanctimonious hypocrites never want to consider the FULL ramifications of want you want to bring about. Because you live in a fantasy world where simply believing something makes it true. Whereas the rest of us live in a fact-based reality system. One where the “rights” of your embryo basically nullify the human rights of the woman who is pregnant. Taking away her most basic human right. Control over her body, and what is and is not done to it.

It's not her body

And that’s where your good intentions go straight to Hell. It is her body, and your embryo can’t survive until 24 weeks without it. And like I said no moral consensus, do wtf gives you the right to decide what reality is for the rest of us. What was Lucifer’s sin again? Pride, if I remember correctly?