Abortion Essay, Research Paper

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

mmoral, 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 aborters are at an even higher risk.4

These serious conditions include infection, embolisms, convulsions,

hemorrhage, and endotoxic poisoning.5 By having an abortion, a woman

doubles her chances of getting breast or cerv

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 immens

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

consequenc! 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 lifeli

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?