- Sute on How Many Latter-day Saints Have Ever Had An Elective Abortion? How Did They Feel About It?: “My wife had an embryo that didn’t develop and was essentially empty. The doctors recommended removing it rather than waiting for her body to reject it for possible complications. Would you call that an elective abortion? A better question to get at what really needs to be known is, how many LDS have had elective abortions of viable pregnancies. The fact that this wasn’t considered suggests severe oversight or bias in wanting to conflate the two.” Mar 27, 18:22
- on How Many Latter-day Saints Have Ever Had An Elective Abortion? How Did They Feel About It?: “Based on my short time as a branch president, district president and ward clerk, the answer to your question is definitely more than you think. Just from those experiences, I know as many people that were members of the LDS church and had abortions as were found in this survey. I won’t discuss details from people that brought this up during interviews , but three of my close friends had elective abortions and have spoken publically or written about their experience. One had a child with severe birth defects and a complicated pregnancy. Another found out she was pregnant in the middle of treatment for brain cancer that harmed the baby and was life threatening. Plus another for nonmedical reasons during a terribly messy and complicated divorce. The assumption that more active members have fewer abortions I don’t see evidence for. My wife and I had a stillborn son that medically would count as an abortion since it required induced labor and medical procedure to save my wife’s life after he died in utero. My brother and his wife had a son with trisomy-18 and delivered at full term but it was horribly traumatic and she tells everyone she wishes she hadn’t listened to her bishop and had an abortion.” Mar 27, 18:14
- on How Many Latter-day Saints Have Ever Had An Elective Abortion? How Did They Feel About It?: “There is a long tradition of assuming that all religious people are hypocrites, and a more recent tradition of making pronouncements on the lives of Latter-day Saints based on sloppy sampling methods, so I think Stephen’s posts are very useful.” Mar 27, 17:36
- on How Many Latter-day Saints Have Ever Had An Elective Abortion? How Did They Feel About It?: “I kind of agree with Lily. It seems kind of creepy or something that I am not sure how to define. Not quite looking in windows to watch people undress, but still creepy. I am not sure how much of it is my attitude that men should have zero say about abortion because it is not their body, it is not their life put at risk, it is not them throwing up or confined to bed for months. And yeah, you being male just feels like once again men are preachy/judgmental about what women do. And your statistics do not even ask things about was the pregnancy caused by rape or incest or some other case where the church is actually accepting of elective abortion, or with the men, was the mother who aborted LDS, or is he talking about his feelings about something she does not think of as sin? Does the definition you are using ask if the mother’s life or health were in danger. It just seems like you have such a small sample size, very inadequate information with vague definitions and you are trying to draw conclusions. Normally, I am all for good answers to even hard questions, but you don’t get to any useful answer at all. So, all I am left with is this “ick” factor that I am not sure how to define or explain.” Mar 27, 15:35
- on How Many Latter-day Saints Have Ever Had An Elective Abortion? How Did They Feel About It?: “You are correct. I lean left. And I am a prude.” Mar 27, 14:52
- on How Many Latter-day Saints Have Ever Had An Elective Abortion? How Did They Feel About It?: “I suppose the same thing that comes from quantifying whether they are educated or not, wealthy or not, where they live, what Latter-day Saints do in their spare time relative to other people. They’re behaviors just like any other. As a sidebar, it is interesting to me how, despite the claims of some that it’s the conservatives who pooh pooh sexuality research or who are skittish about talking about sex, in my experience just as much if not more of the pushback comes from the left (not saying you or Lily are left necessarily, just an observation).” Mar 27, 13:40
- on How Many Latter-day Saints Have Ever Had An Elective Abortion? How Did They Feel About It?: “To follow Lily, what good comes from quantification vis-a-vis Church members?” Mar 27, 13:33
- on How Many Latter-day Saints Have Ever Had An Elective Abortion? How Did They Feel About It?: “To quote from the first post: “Masturbation is a human behavior, worthy of study and quantification like any other behavior. It’s a real thing, it’s a thing some people do. Furthermore, it’s a thing the Church has taken a position on. Therefore, it is fair game for quantification vis-a-vis Church members as long as it is treated appropriately.”” Mar 27, 12:29
- on How Many Latter-day Saints Have Ever Had An Elective Abortion? How Did They Feel About It?: “Stephen: I think these are weird questions. It never occurs to me to wonder how many people are masturbating or have had an abortion. Why so nosy?” Mar 27, 12:01
- on How Many Latter-day Saints Have Ever Had An Elective Abortion? How Did They Feel About It?: “I fully support acw’s point. Latter-day Saints lack a baseline understanding and common vocabulary to adequately discuss this issue.” Mar 27, 11:26
