Posted by Eliza on December 09, 2001 at 18:51:55:
In Reply to: Re: Greek Sociology posted by Tiffany Winkelman on December 09, 2001 at 11:57:45:
Hi Tiffany, your thoughts are very interesting and I couldn't imagine knowing exactly why the huge difference in abortion rates in countries in which it is legal. The only thing I can offer is some thoughts regarding Greece. Most Greeks do respect the teachings of the church but amongst my friends, pre-marital sex is standard, as it is in most western countries. So why few unwanted pregnancies? Contraception is readily available and in my experience, Greek women are very sensible regarding taking precautions. On that matter, my boyfriends have also been extremely responsible regarding 'being careful'. I think an extremely large part of the low unwanted pregnancy rate in Greece is because children are very much wanted. What I mean is that children are regarded as the treasure of a family (and so often spoiled!), so to conceive a child that is not wanted is pretty close to anathema. Children in a Greek family are respected and treasured and their parents proud of them (of course I'm speaking in social generalities). Perhaps Tiffany, you may profit by looking at how different societies actually treat their children - the born and living ones, with regard to child-poverty, child-abuse etc, and that will hold the key to abortion rates. My guess is that societies that don't treasure their children have a high abortion rate - I don't know, I'm only guessing and suggesting you try comparing child-abuse figures with abortion figures to see if there's any co-relation. Good luck with your studies Tiffany!