Essay/Term paper: Abortion: birth control or legal murder?

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Abortion

Abortion: Birth Control or Legal Murder?


Approximately 1.6 million murders are committed legally each year. With the
exception of laws in few states, the mutilated bodies of the victims are thrown
into dumpsters like pieces of rotten meat. While these victims lay waiting in
the infested dumpsters to be hauled off to a landfill, the murderers are in
their offices waiting for their next patient--the accomplice to the murder. This
is the murder of an innocent child by a procedure known as abortion. Abortion
stops the beating of an innocent child's heart. People must no longer ignore the
scientific evidence that life begins at the moment of conception. People can no
longer ignore the medical and emotional problems an abortion causes women.
People must stop denying the facts about the procedure, and start hearing the
silent screams of unborn children.

The argument by the pro-abortion side is that the unborn child is not truly
a child. Many people who are pro-abortion justify their beliefs through the
concept that a fetus is only a blob of tissue until it is born, or the
statement: life begins at birth. Abortion is not as simple as removing a "blob
of tissue" (as the pro-abortion activists put it) from a woman's body. Abortion
is the destruction, dismembering and killing of a human life--an unborn baby.
"But it is scientific and medical fact based on experimental evidence, that a
fetus is a living, growing, thriving human being, directing his or her own
development" (Fetal Development). A fetus is not just a blob of tissue, rather a
fetus is Latin for "offspring or young one." Human life begins at fertilization,
therefore it is wrong to murder the innocent child in the womb. At a US Senate
Judiciary Subcommittee meeting, most scientists said that life begins at
conception or implantation of the embryo. No scientist at the meeting claimed
that life begins at birth (Factbot). Professor Hymie Gordon of the Mayo clinic
stated "' . . by all criteria of modern biology, life is present from the moment
of conception'" (Fetal Development). In a 1963 Planned Parenthood pamphlet
entitled 'Plan Your Children' it states "an abortion kills the life of a baby
after it has begun. It is dangerous to your life and health" (Factbot). Even
though abortion is dangerous to a woman's life, and it kills her baby, Planned
Parenthood still offers it as a safe solution. This statement contradicts what
most abortion clinics say. It is not possible for abortion to be offered to
women as a safe solution, when it not only puts her life in danger, but it also
kills her child.

Not only has science proven that a fetus is truly a human, the simple facts
also confer abortion kills the life of a human being. Life begins at conception
because of the fact that life in the womb does not change at birth. There are no
special procedures or changes that occur during birth to magically change the
fetus to a baby. It is already a baby--a human life. "'If a fertilized egg is
not by itself a full human being it could not become one, because nothing is
added to it,'" said Dr. Jerome Lejeune (Factbot). Most of all the development
also takes place before one is born. Of the 45 generations of cell divisions
before adulthood, 41 have taken place before a person is born (Factbot).
Fertilization is just the beginning of a long process of growing and maturing.
"Life in a continuum. From the moment the egg is fertilized a new life has begun.
All of the genetic information is present to construct a unique individual.
Gender, physical features, eye color have already been determined. The baby's
heart begins beating regularly at 24 days. Babies in the womb hiccup, cry, play,
and learn" (Factbot). Life continues from the day of fertilization until death.
Nothing is added to a person during a lifetime. "'Conception confers life and
makes that life one of a kind,'" said Dr Landrum Shettles father of in vitro
fertilization (Factbot). Abortion is wrong because it ends the life of a human
being. The day of conception marks the beginning of a new human life. "'The
zygote is the first cell of a new human being,'" said Keith L. Moore. There is
no way that the fetus is just a "blob of (Factbot) tissue." Scientific and
medical facts prove that the fetus is living. They prove that the fetus is a
person, a human, and functions separate from the mother. According to our law
murder is wrong, therefore it is unlawful to kill an unborn child. The child in
the womb deserves the right to life.

The fetus is a real human being and deserves all the rights and freedom
given to people under the Constitution. This right is evident in the Fourteenth
Amendment that states, "The State shall not deprive any person of life, liberty,
property, without due process of the law; nor deny any person within its
jurisdiction the equal protection of the law" (Factbot). Abortion denies babies
equal protection under the law, and is depriving a person of life. Thomas
Jefferson stated human rights best when he wrote, "We hold these truths to be
self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness" (Factbot). All unborn babies have the right to life
guaranteed to humans under the constitution. No other person has the right to
take away the unborn child's life, no matter what the situation is. One must not
sacrifice a life to make one's own life better.

Many argue that most of the babies that are aborted are unwanted babies.
They believe that they would be abused and neglected. This is why abortion is
okay to them. They believe abortion is saving the child from abuse. Abortion,
however, is the most severe case of child abuse. The procedures are painful to
the child and intentionally end in death (except in cases where the procedure
results in a living child. "About once a day, somewhere in the US, something
goes wrong and an abortion results in a live baby" (Factbot)). The fetus is
alive and has the capacity to feel the painful abortion procedure. The US
Department of Health and Human Services reported that after nine weeks unborn
babies can feel pain, yet 48 per cent of all abortions are done after this point
( Fetal Development). The baby can feel all the pain put on it by the painful
procedures. The ultra sound shows the baby struggling to survive. Abortionist
doctors such as Joseph Randall admit that seeing the abortion ". . . of the baby
on the ultra sound bothered me more than anything else. The staff couldn't take
it. Women were never allowed to see the ultra sound" (Factbot). Women should be
allowed to see this. They should see the struggling of the life they are killing.
An early abortion takes about five minutes and is performed six to fourteen
weeks after a woman's last period. The procedure is called a suction aspiration.
It is like a vacuum cleaner. "'A hollow plastic tube with a sharp edge is placed
into the uterus. The suction tears the baby apart, and the sharp edge is used to
scrape the placenta from the wall of the uterus. Everything is sucked out into a
bottle'" (Whitney 94). The other common method is dilation and curettage. "'A
curette, which is a loop-shaped steel knife, is inserted into the uterus, and
the baby and the placenta are cut into pieces and scraped out. Both procedures
are usually done under general anesthesia, so they're not painful for the mother.
Of course we know the child feels pain'" (Whitney 94). Another method that is
not performed much anymore is the saline injection; a long slow death process of
poisoning the baby. The saline injection was developed in the Nazi Concentration
Camps (Factbot) The most controversial form of abortion is the partial-birth
abortion. Using an ultra sound the abortionist grabs the baby's legs with
forceps and pulls them out into the birth canal. The abortionist then delivers
the entire baby except for the head and continues by jamming scissors into the
baby's skull. The scissors are then opened to enlarge the hole. The scissors are
removed and a suction is inserted. The baby's brains are sucked out causing the
skull to collapse. The dead baby is then removed ( Partial). It has been proven
that babies can feel pain in these procedures. The fetus can feel pain because
it is alive and growing like a human. Something that is not living cannot feel
pain. If one crushes a pop can as the abortionist crushes a baby, the pop can
feels no pain because it is not living. The baby feels pain because it is a
living human being. Abortion is wrong because it deprives the baby of rights and
happiness because of the suffering it must go through during the abortion.

Women who have these painful abortions suffer emotional stress, and years
after having the procedure they discover that they destroyed a human life. The
women finally realize after many years of emotional stress the cause of it.
"After 5-10 years 54 per cent of mothers choosing abortion had nightmares and 96
per cent felt they had taken a life" a from study by Dr Anne Speckhard of the
University of Minnesota. People need to listen to the women who have had
abortions in the past to hear what they are really about. From them people can
learn much more than a clinic can teach. After having an abortion, many women
can tell a person the true facts--abortion is murder. "'Recent evidence
indicates many women harbor strong guilt feelings long after their abortions.
Guilt is one important cause of child battering and infanticide. Abortion lowers
women's self-esteem and there are studies reporting a major loss of self-esteem
in battering parents,'" said Dr. Phillip Ney. There are places that give
abortion counseling. However, many of these places do not give accurate
information Accurate information is needed so women, and men, know that abortion
will take away a human life. Ninety-five percent of women who had abortions said
their Planned Parenthood counselors gave ". . . little or no biological
information about the fetus which the abortion would destroy." Where 80 percent
of women who have had abortions from Planned Parenthood said little or no health
information was given to them about potential health risks (Factbot). Women need
to be told the true facts of abortion. They need to see the fetal monitors. In
many clinics they are not allowed to see the ultra sound. The doctors do not
want a woman to see that the baby inside of her is alive. This is wrong because
it not only denies the child the rights such as the right to be heard and seen,
it denies women the truth. The truth must be told and shown. Shari Richard, an
Ultrasonographer, said, "'In fact many women will come to me considering an
abortion, and I have been personally told that I am to turn the monitor away
from her view so that seeing her baby jump around on the screen does not
influence her choice'" (Factbot). Abortion clinic staff members are taught how
to sell abortions, told never to give alternatives, and told to tell the women
how much trouble a baby is. Women are not told the facts. It is obvious from the
ultra sound that the baby they are carrying is alive, and abortion kills the
baby. If the clinic can clearly see that the baby is alive, the mother should
also see. Abortion is described as a decision between a women and her doctor.
Yet over 90 percent don't even see the doctor until he appears to abort their
baby. This should not be the case. The clinics are hiding and withholding the
true facts. Clinics need to shape-up and tell the truth to women: Abortion is
wrong.

Abortion is one of the key issues facing the human race today. This issue,
like many, forces people to take sides against each other, and is one of the
main factors people look at when voting. In a 1973 court ruling, known as Roe v.
Wade, abortion became legal. Since this ruling the number of teen pregnancies
has increased from 4.94 per cent in 1972 to 9.92 per cent in 1990. The number of
teen abortions has doubled from 19.9 per thousand teenagers in 1972 to 43.8 per
thousand teenagers in 1990 while the number of teen births has increased from
22.8 to 42.5 per thousand. The number of births to unmarried women has increased
7.3 per cent during the years from1972 to 1990 while the number of abortions
increased 11.7 per cent during those years (Factbot). Abortion should no longer
be legal. It is rapidly becoming a form of birth control. No longer must women
worry about protection, if they should conceive a child, they can choose to take
its life. One-third of all babies (Planned Parenthood) are aborted, which
entitles the abortion industry to $500 million a year in income in the United
States (Factbot). Abortion is the most frequent surgical operation in the US,
and the leading cause of death in Minnesota (Factbot). Currently there are two
million couples waiting for adoption in America, yet there are 30 abortions for
every one adoption (Factbot). These statistics are true. Abortion needs to be
stopped.

There are arguments against the stopping of abortion. However, there are
solutions. Many say abortion should be legal if the woman's life is in danger.
Only three percent of all abortions are done for the mother's health, where 40
percent of women who have abortions will have more than one, and 50 per cent use
it as their sole means of birth control (Factbot). As for the argument that
women will do them illegally in the back alleys endangering their lives, 72 per
cent said they would definitely not have sought an abortion if they were illegal,
and death happens during a legal abortion too; maternal death rates for first
trimester abortions are 61 per 100,000 cases (Factbot).

Abortion is clearly the taking of a human life, an action that is wrong
under the United States constitution. Women must stop being denied the facts and
start being told the truth. The people of the US must start standing up for the
rights of all people, born and unborn. "Abortion concerns not only the unborn
child , it concerns every one of us." said former President of the United States
Ronald Reagan (Factbot). Abortion concerns all of us. People need to start
caring for the women who are hurting as a result of an abortion, and women who
are struggling over the decision. People must tell them the facts, and work at
making the conditions better for women, because 84 per cent would keep their
babies under better circumstances (Factbot). America needs to open her ears to
the screams of the 1.6 million babies murdered each year.


Bibliography

Can abortion be justified? San Diego: Grenhaven Press, Inc., 1991.

"Factbot." Netscape. Online.

"Fetal Development." Netscape. Online.

Harrison, Maureen, and Steve Gilbert, eds. Abortion Decisions of the United
States Supreme Court: The 1990's. Beverly Hills: Excellent Books, 1993.

Is abortion immoral? San Diego: Grenhaven Press, Inc., 1991.

"LIFE at the University of Illinois." Netscape. Online

Melville, Keith, ed. The Battle Over Abortion. Dubuque: Kendall/Hunt Publishing
Company, 1990.

"Partial-Birth Abortion." Netscape. Online.

Should abortion remain a personal choice? San Diego: Grenhaven Press, Inc., 1991.

Should abortion remain legal? San Diego: Grenhaven Press, Inc., 1991.

When does life begin? San Diego: Grenhaven Press, Inc., 1991.

Whitney, Catherine. Whose Life?. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc.,
1991.