Several things to pray about--and one for which we should thank God.
We start with the good news. One week before the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, a new report published in The Washington Post says the abortion rate has dropped for the first time since 1976.
The number of abortions performed in the United States dropped to 1.2 million in 2005 -- the lowest level since 1976, according to a new report.
The number of abortions fell at least in part because the proportion of women ending their pregnancies with an abortion dropped 9 percent between 2000 and 2005, hitting the lowest level since 1975, according to a nationwide survey.
But even so, there is some sobering information about potential reasons for that trend, according to the Post.
At the same time, the long decline in the number of abortion providers appears to be stabilizing, partly a result of the availability of the French abortion pill RU-486, the report found, because some physicians who do not perform surgical abortions provide it to their patients.
I also read another piece analyzing a troubling trend. (HT: Albert Mohler)
The Coming American Matriarchy is about the rapid increase in American women's education and professional experience and the accompanying decrease in men's education and professional experience. It is by Jonathan Rauch for the libertarian publication, Reason Online. (It's interesting to note that the writer is not the conservative voice one would expect on this topic, but an openly gay writer who champions gay marriage as good public policy.) Though I cringed a bit at his tone toward women, I have to allow that this article raises some important points for future marriage trends and our nation's interaction with Muslim countries.
Women's superior education will increase their earning power relative to men's, and on average they will be marrying down, educationally speaking. A third of today's college-bound 12-year-old girls can expect to "settle" for a mate without a university diploma. But women will not stop wanting to be hands-on moms.
For families, this will pose a dilemma. Women will have a comparative advantage at both parenting and breadwinning. Many women will want to take time off for child-rearing, but the cost of keeping a college-educated mom at home while a high-school-educated dad works will be high, often prohibitive. . . .
Some of these adjustments will have international dimensions. Goldin, Katz, and Kuziemko note, "Almost all countries in the OECD"—the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a group of advanced industrial countries—"now have more women than men in college and have had a growing gender gap among undergraduates that favors women." Yet much of the developing world, especially the Muslim world, remains predominantly patriarchal.
Many tradition-minded cultures in the Middle East, Africa, and parts of Asia already regard the Western economic and social model as emasculating. Radical Islam, in particular, abhors feminism. As the United States and Europe continue to feminize, will the anti-modern backlash, already deeply problematic in the Muslim world, intensify? As sex roles and expectations diverge, might hostility and misunderstanding mount between the West and the rest?
We need to pray about these concerns. As Rauch noted in his article, it's a "big mystery" why young men are falling behind. While our culture flails about in defining masculinity and helping young boys grow up to be successful young men, we in the church need to make sure we are pointing our sons, nephews, brothers, and friends to what Scripture says about manhood. And we Christian women need to encourage our men to live counter-culturally, too. And needless to say, the gap between the west and the Muslim world is alarming and should have us on our knees.
As I conclude this post, I want to clarify that I've written it as much as a reminder/rebuke to myself than anything else. These concerns are not regularly on my prayer list, as important as they are. Writing this entry has been a fresh reminder of how parochial my prayers can be. And with issues as entrenched as these topics, prayer really is our only hope. "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 6:12).
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