Abortion is, by definition, a form of birth control, but I don't think most people would ever consider it to be equal to other forms of controlling birth. However, let's not forget that for a lot of people abortion is quite literally the only birth control they may have access to, and even that access may come at huge risk. There are often family, social, religious (this is the big one), or cultural pressures that get in the way of accessing contraceptives until it is too late.

[–] Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

Absolutely understand, and while it's hard for me to believe that anyone doesn't know about condoms, a religious person who chooses abortion over condoms really makes me scratch my head.

But I guess you mean a kid living in a "religious" household. Man, I wish there was a way to communicate to kids that feeling your old enough for sex means feeling you're old enough to make good decisions about preventing pregnancy.

I mean frankly the whole thing's just too damn big for me. My heart goes out to everyone who finds themselves with these kinds of choices.

[–] Flocklesscrow@lemm.ee 6 points 2 days ago

You're making some huge assumptions about the quality of sex and health education that those kids have had access to. It's easy to point a finger and say, well you should be more responsible, but the reality is that adolescents are still learning and developing. So even with great education, they make bad decisions. They won't have adult brains until their early to mid 20s. And there's no reason why those decisions should ruin lives, when modern medicine can resolve the dilemma in minutes.

In other words, you're making an argument for much better and more widely available sex and health education. Which religious types are likely to oppose. Can't have it both ways- either the kids are fully informed and made an error, or their guardians failed them and set them on a track with a veil of ignorance.

[–] Sabre363@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 days ago

Yeah, I was getting at living in a religious household, but I can say from experience that it goes far deeper than that. There is way too often a toxic and parasitic mentality that constantly says things like birth control are evil and aren't to be talked about. When that kind of thinking permeates every aspect of one's life or community, it can make it difficult, humiliating, or outright dangerous for people to seek out things like contraceptives.

Also, I know this thinking doesn't hold true of all religious folks, and it's refreshing to see someone genuinely curious and asking questions rather than judging automatically, so thank you.