Your insights are very enlightening.

A lot of great comments…

So, coming to the point, religion really takes a backseat to culture when it comes to determining attitudes towards abortion.

Being a Christian, I find that religion takes a backseat to many things.

There are many souls that are starving in our modern culture here in the United States and many want to feed it poison with acts like abortion.

Eventually the soul dies from long term abuse and necrosis.

The death of our children leaves the country without a heart, soul, or purpose.

later…

Are you directly on the ocean? What sort of climate are you experiencing this time of year?

Here, in the northeastern US (Maine,) there is still snow, and the ground is still frozen, although the temperatures have gone above freezing for the last several days, and things are beginning to thaw. I’m looking forward to sping.

Navin: Sorry I didn’t post a response to your comment sooner. I had a busy day at work, & you know my ‘Boss’ doesn’t like me goofing off at work I agree with your opinion that here in India, abortion is a social and cultural issue rather than a religious one. I brought in religion because TJ’s questions were specifically about religion. You know very well our country’s religious diversity - I don’t think anybody could count the number of subsects and special religious groups, the godmen (swamis), ashrams, and their countless variants. There is no possible single ‘religious’ slant that can be given to this issue rather than to say some vague thing like ‘all religions value life’, ‘God wants the best to happen to every living being’ etc…

Pk: When I told you I’d be glad to help you out with any doubts you had about India, I didn’t expect to get hit by a loaded Internal Medicine problem. I expected more in the lines of culture and Indian society, tourism etc I am sure all my colleagues (Radiologists) worldwide would agree that we are not the best people to be talking about hard core Internal Medicine issues. I am sorry, but I have no idea about Myasthenia gravis other than that I’ll probably have to look at the thymus if I do a CT or MRI. As for Mestinon, ‘wow’ is that like, a drug! duh!!

Moof: Thanks for the compliment. If you have a few minutes check out Navin’s post about English usage among young Indians here. He has explained the phenomenon very well. I like Navin am very comfortable thinking and communicating in English. Very difficult for me to do so in Tamil, (one among the 18 official languages in India, spoken in our state Tamil Nadu which means Tamil Country) and in Kannada which happens to be my first language - in fact I can’t read or write Kannada and I barely speak it. Navin is a non-medical friend of mine who’s got a very interesting and colourful blog - mostly related to local Indian stuff - more specifically about Chennai city and Tamil Nadu. There is no social stigma attached to abortion in India. It is such a routine occurence that in medical practice its part of the history-taking process in any woman who comes in for a Ob or Gyn problem, ‘have you had any abortions?’ as routine as ‘how many children do you have?’. Like Navin says, its quite accepted in society too. Religion and faith are secondary factors in the decision to abort. I have scanned women belonging to all the major Indian religions (Hindu, Muslim, Christian - including Catholics and Syrian Orthodox & Jains) who subsequently underwent abortions.

I read the comment by Navin … do you agree with his position?

Here in the US, there is a stigma attached to having an abortion … at least from the perspective of those of us who are pro-life, and according to some statistics I’ve seen, that’s roughly half of the country. When someone tells me that they are pro-abortion, or that they have had an abortion, although I don’t shun them or mistreat them, and I try to not judge them, I no longer see them in the same way as previously. It places a division between us.

Also, here in the US, religion is asserting itself over secular culture, as is evinced by the recent anti-abortion law passed in South Dakota, and the parental notification law in Texas which I posted about this morning.

The larger cities tend to be liberal - pro-abortion, pro big government … but when you go out into the country side, many of the folks are conservative.

How is Myasthenia Gravis treated in India.
How are autoimmune diseases in general treated in India?

Mestinon, the main symtom relief drug, here in the US, has a filler of lactose, does that have any bearing on it’s use in India?
What is the mortality rate there? Is it harder to diagnose the MG, and other autoimmune diseases in India than other countries?

It is the same with attitudes towards abortion / children. While it is culturally almost unthinkable not to have children, it is usually deemed okay to abort a child for whatever purposes. The person who undergoes an abortion is not ostracized or stigmatised in any way, and society is by and large sympathetic towards them. In particular geographical areas, usually where agriculture is the economic mainstay, the male child is given preference over the female child. Reasons for this are myriad. Simply put, a female child puts a heavy burden on the family - financially, culturally and economically. While to a large extent the basis for this is disappearing, cultural memory is still strong, and male children are still preferred over female children. In such places, female foeticide and infanticide is rampant, in spite of efforts by many governmental and non-governmental agencies to stop it.

The reason why the fight against female foeticide / infanticide has met with very limited success is that socially, it is still acceptable.

So, coming to the point, religion really takes a backseat to culture when it comes to determining attitudes towards abortion.

Pk: Thanks. Please don’t hesitate to ask me anything about India. I’ll do my best.

TJ: Though I had written in my first post ‘The Abortion Debate’ that I had always been fascinated by the subject, I never really thought about it in a coherent manner. I still don’t think I am as articulate as Dr. Flea, Moof or Dr. Crippen. I owe you for getting me started. Thank you.

I appreciate your candor!

I used to be disturbed… but I guess I’m no longer affected by it.

The lack of tears doesn’t mean that you aren’t affected.

It’s like chronic pain. The pain hasn’t gone away. The tendency is to push the pain out of your mind, build a wall, and forget about it.

The cause of the pain hasn’t left.

The pain hasn’t left.

You are still affected, even though you may not fully feel it or show it.

I’m sorry that you have been subjected to that kind of pain, and that you have had to build an effective wall.

Thank you once again.

later…

P.S. I’m adding you to my blogroll.

My pastor went to India 2 years ago, and I have found myself facinated with India ever since.

I will be following Moof’s and Flea’s example and promoting your new blog on my blog Pearls And Dreams.

WELCOME to the World of Blogging!

I believe that the largest divide between us is probably the reason for some of the abortions in your country (sex selection) … however, from my own perspective, is it worse to kill an unborn infant because she’s of the wrong sex, than it is to kill an unborn infant because it’s just not “convenient” to have one? I don’t see that the US has a moral high ground on that …

It would be interesting to go across the globe, from country to country, and discover the percentages of children allowed to be born vs those who are aborted … I have a terrible feeling that the statistics worldwide would be staggering.

Does anyone perhaps have that sort of information?