Every year in Canada, over 100 000 murders never reach the courtroom. 1 They never reach the courtroom because they are completely legal. Abortion continues to grow across the world, hurting and killing children, as well as their mothers. Abortion is i moral, harmful, and actions must be taken to stop it. When a woman aborts, she is not only killing her child but is also harming herself. Legal abortion is the fifth leading cause of maternal death.
2 Ten percent of women undergoing abortion suffer immediate complications, and one fifth of those are consid ered life threatening. 3 Teenage abort ers are at an even higher risk. 4 These serious conditions include infection, embolisms, convulsions, hemorrhage, and endotoxin poisoning. 5 By having an abortion, a woman doubles her chances of getting breast or c erv ical cancer.
Every consequent abortion increases these chances. 6 Physical damage, however, is merely the beginning. Aborted mothers will also suffer many psychological effects as well. These include nightmares, hysterical outbreaks, feelings of immense e guilt, and fear of punishment from God. 7 In fact, aborted women visit doctors for psychosocial reasons 180% more than other women. 8 Abortion may seem like a quick fix at the time, but there can be many and harsh consequence! es.
Yet even if a mother is willing to accept the consequences, she is taking away a human life. Purely biologically speaking, it is undeniable that a fetus is a human, and an individual. at the moment of conception, the fetus has a DNA that is different f rom his or her mother. By three weeks, the baby’s heart is pumping its own circulatory system with a blood type different from its mother. 9 Doctors measure the end of life by brain death. It is then reasonable to say that the beginning of life should b e at least measured by the beginning of brain life.
By six weeks, an unborn baby’s brain waves can be recorded by an electroencephalogram (EEG).
10 Between six and seven weeks, the unborn baby will respond to external stimuli, such as touching his or her face. 11 While many people believe that a fetus is merely a mass of flesh, and is not nearly as complex as a human, this is completely untrue. By eight weeks, all of the body systems are present, and by eleven weeks, still i! n the first trimester, all of those body systems are functional. 12 In fact, the body of an unborn baby is more complex than ours.
He or she has extra parts, such as an amniotic sac, his or her own space bubble, and the umbilical cord, the baby’s life li ne, as well as the placenta, the unborn baby’s root system. 13 All of these systems developed from the baby’s original cell, not the mother. so when a mother has an abortion, she is killing a living, breathing, heart-pumping, thinking human being. And when that human being is being killed, it is absolute torture.
An unborn baby will begin to feel pain as early as eight weeks. At this time, activity in the thalamus, where the pain centre is located, can be read. 14 Unborn babies have even been re corded holding their hands over their ears when loud music was played. 15 When abortions are carried out, no precautions are taken to prevent the unborn baby from feeling this pain.
There are three main ways that abortions are performed, depending on the age of the unborn baby. If the baby is under thirteen weeks of age, a method known as Suction Curettage is used. First, a suction tube with a knife-like edge is inserted into the womb. Then the baby is literally drawn and quartered as the spine, the l egs, the arms, and all other parts are sliced off and sucked through the tube. Lastly, the head is crushed with forceps, so it too can be sucked up into the tube.
16 If the baby is over thirteen weeks of age, the “Salting Out! ‘ method is used. A strong, sterile saltwater solution is injected into the amniotic sac. The baby swallows and breathes this solution, poisoning him or her as well as burning away the upper layers of the skin. Death usually comes in one to two hours f rom salt poisoning, dehydration, hemorrhages of the brain and other organs, as well as convulsions. 17 The third method is used if the baby is in its last three months.
It involves injecting prostaglandin into the unborn baby. He or she then has a heart attack. Prostaglandin also induces labour, and often the baby is born still alive. If this happens, he or she is generally left to die. 18 All of these methods are extremely cruel and excruciatingly painful.
These crimes against humanity must be abolished. Abortion hurts everybody: the child, the mother, and often even the father. If human life itself cannot be valued, then what kind of values can society have? ENDNOTES 1. Alanna Mitchell, Go be and Mail, September 26, 1996 2.
David C. Reardon, Ph. D. A List of Major Physical Sequelae Related to Abortion, [Online] Available web 1997 3. Reardon, A List of Major Physical Sequelae Related to Abortion 4. Reardon, A List of Major Physical Sequelae Related to Abortion 5.
Reardon, A List of Major Physical Sequelae Related to Abortion 6. Reardon, A List of Major Physical Sequelae Related to Abortion 7. David C. Reardon, Ph D. Psychological Reactions Reported After Abortion, [Online] Available web 1995 8. Reardon, A List of Major Physical Sequelae Related to Abortion 9.
Jack and Barbara Willke, Abortion: Questions & Answers, [Online] Available web 1990 10. Willke 11. Willke 12. Willke 13. Willke 14. Alliance for Life, Abortion: A Painful Death? , [Pamphlet] pg 4 15.
Alliance, pg 4 16. Alliance, pg 6 17. Alliance, pg 6 18. Alliance, pg 7 BIBLIOGRAPHY Alliance for Life. Abortion: A Painful Death? . [Pamphlet] Reardon, David C.
, Ph. D. A List of Major Physical Sequelae Related to Abortion. [Online] Available web 1997 Reardon, David C. , Ph.
D. Psychological Reactions Reported After Abortions. [Online] Available web 1995 Willke, Jack and Barbara. Abortion: Questions & Answers. [Online] Available web 1990.