The Real Problem... and the Solution

A Comment from the BTG Staff

Behind the abortion crisis we'll find an even deeper problem: the recent vast increase in the number of unwanted pregnancies. This is another crisis-a crisis so severe that millions of Americans are resorting to murder of unborn infants as the only apparent solution. "Without legal and affordable abortion," wrote Lance Morrow in a recent Time editorial, "many lives in progress are hopelessly ruined; the unwanted children very often grow up unloved, battered... and criminal." We certainly agree that we must rectify these social conditions. But what sane person, understanding that the fetus is fully alive from the moment of conception, would then consider abortion a valid solution to unwanted pregnancy?

We seem to be caught on the horns of a cruel dilemma: the horror of abortion, or the misery of broken lives, broken homes, and masses of unwanted children. But the truth is that the crises of abortion and unwanted pregnancy, as well as those of venereal disease, child abuse, and divorce, have arisen from the same basic cause-unrestricted illicit sex life. The Vedic scriptures allow sex for only one purpose-to produce God-conscious children. Therefore sex only for pleasure is a violation of God's law, and a society of sex mongers must suffer punishment in the form of the abortion, pornography, and VD plagues, widespread child abuse, and so on.

American society is feeling the agonizing reaction to its own godlessness, and discussions about whether states should or should not help pay for abortions are like so much aimless chatter aboard a sinking ship. By ignoring the scriptural rules governing sex, we have descended to the level of animals. What good is "reasoned discussion" among the beasts? By killing more than one million unborn babies every year, Americans are committing the largest mass murder in recent history-and now they're trying to decide how to do it fairly and morally!

No. The only moral issue here is how to stop illicit sex. Everyone, from the nation's leaders on down, must understand God's purpose for sex-to produce God-conscious children. Furthermore, all government leaders must strictly adhere to this principle in their own lives and vigorously propagate it throughout society.

Unfortunately, our so-called leaders do not have the moral strength to live by God's laws. Therefore they do not care to enforce God's laws within society. The laws God presents in the revealed scriptures are meant to insure peace and prosperity, and ultimately to guide the citizens toward God consciousness. But our demonic leaders' nefarious business is to perpetrate the philosophy of unrestricted sense pleasure-especially sex pleasure. As the Bhagavad-gita explains, "The demons believe that to gratify the senses up to the end of life is the prime necessity of human civilization. Thus there is no end to their anxiety."

Abortion, divorce, child abuse-the list of anxieties will simply increase unless we stop illicit sex. And the only way to do this is to replace the present leaders with trained Krsna-conscious leaders, who will have the spiritual strength to control their own senses and turn society back from its hell-bent course.

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