Essay/Term paper: Abortion should not be legalized

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Abortion

ABORTION SHOULD NOT BE LEGALIZED

Abortion is the worst thing a woman can do against human dignity. It is a crime against life. No woman has the right to kill a new living being. Many countries ban abortion and many institutions fight against it. Abortion is immoral and it should not be legalized.

Abortion is also a threat to the mother's health. A woman can suffer an infection or internal bleeding. She could also become sterilized, the permanent inhability to bear a child. Abortion not only kills the baby but may kill the mother too. During an abortion, despite the use of local anesthesia, 97% of the women report severe pain, and if a more powerful drug is used she could suffer dangerous side effects. Many complications are common after an abortion, like inflammation of the reproductive organs. As well, there is strong evidence that abortion increases the risk of breast cancer. Women that abort increase their chances of getting breast cancer by 50%, and teenagers with no previous pregnancies that abort after the 8th week increase their probability by 800%. Unicef states that 250,000 women die every year because of legal and illegal abortions: 75,000 of them die of self-inflicted abortions; 75,000 die of convulsions; and the other 100,000 die of blood poisoning caused by an infection of the uterus. Therefore, if abortion is legalized there will be not only more fetal murders but also more mothers will die.

None of the methods women use to abort are completly safe. One of the most common methods used is Suction Aspiration. The doctor uses a special tool to suck the baby into a collection bottle. Great care must be taken to prevent the uterus from being damaged, which would cause hemorrhage. A woman with hemorrhage will need a blood transfusion that could cause her AIDS. Also infection may easily occur if fetal tissue is left behind in the uterus. Another method used for babies as old as twenty four weeks, is the Dilation and Evacuation. Sharp jaws are used to grasp different parts of the unborn baby which are then torn away. The skull of the baby must be crushed to facilitate the procedure. Another technique used by a lot of pregnant women is the RU486. The RU486 are pills used to abort the undesired child. These pills have very dangerous side effects. They could cause severe bleeding, nausea, vomiting, pain, and even death. In France a woman died because of this drug while others suffered life threatning heart attacks. Also RU486 can cause severe malformations in later pregnancies. Therefore the baby is not the only one that is endangered.

The baby's mother not only has to deal with physical consequences, but also psychological problems that could last for a lifetime. Women that abort usually suffer severe traumas. Once, a woman was rapped by five men. She didn't want to have the child, but her pain and embarrasment were so great that she couldn't abort until the last month. She is still in psychological treatment. Psychologist Wanda Franz states, "Women feel worthless because they failed at the most natural of human activities, the role of being a mother." Women report horrible nightmares of children calling them from a trash can full of body parts and blood. Surgical abortions aren't as traumatic as chemical abortions. Women having chemical abortions often see the complete tiny bodies of their babies and are even able to distinguish the developing hands and eyes. So traumatic is this for some future mothers that it is recommended that women that are not prepared for this, do not take the drug. Researchers call these phychological problems the Post Abortion Syndrome (PAS). Women that suffer from PAS experience drug and alcohol abuse, personal relationship problems, repeated abortions, and even suicide. Of all the women that abort, 56% feel guilty and suffer PAS. In the United States there are over 3000 Pregnancy Crisis Centers which help women that are facing unplanned pregnancies. They make the future mothers realize that her baby deserves to have the chance of living. They tell them that if they can't support the baby then she could give it up for adoption but not kill him.

Do women have the right to steal the life of a new living being? Killing a person is illegal, so why should a fetal murder be legal? You have to ask yourself these questions and realize that when a woman aborts, she is acting like any other murderer. Researchers have discovered that life begins at the moment of conception in the mother's uterus, therefore abortion ends a human life and should be punishable by law. As well, nine short months of pregnancy is a small cost for a life without physical and health problems,
think about it.