- Jonathan Green 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
- on How Many Latter-day Saints Have Ever Had An Elective Abortion? How Did They Feel About It?: “Good point, I changed the title to specify “elective abortion.”” Mar 27, 11:25
- on How Many Latter-day Saints Have Ever Had An Elective Abortion? How Did They Feel About It?: “For some helpful context from a female reader, the term “abortion” or “medical abortion” is also used for a miscarriage (not an “elective abortion”). So when I saw your headline title, I thought–probably half of them! If a quarter to a third of all pregnancies miscarry, and LDS women have several children each, there’s a good chance that half of the Relief Society has dealt with this (and how do they feel about it? very complicated grief). I wish this were a larger part of the conversation, that miscarriages use the exact same medical procedure abortions do, that we need medical people trained in these procedures, that some require hard decisions as well. It is not a black and white topic.” Mar 27, 10:14
