Abortion Essay, Research Paper

Anonymous

Novel

March 17, 2000

Abortion

As long as history can tell man has though of life as precious, as the ultimate sacrifice to give up, the ultimate gift to give, and the ultimate crime to take away. Laws have been placed in every nation against murder and the evil that it holds. Through it all though, special situational murders have been left to slide as not true murders, such as self-defense, killing in combat/war, and even abortion has been left to slip between the cracks of ignorance. Murder is murder; self-defensive murder can not be avoided or it is the slain man?s fault. Abortion is easily avoided, prevented, and is in no possible way the slain victim?s fault. With a clear mind, one can easily see that abortion is in fact murder, no matter what the excuse.

Many myths and misconceptions surround abortion. One huge misconception is that the woman has a choice over her body, therefore it is her decision to choose to keep the unborn child or not. This is untrue if one looks at the situation logically. The child has half his mother?s chromosomes, and half its father?s chromosomes, so the child is independent from his mother, it has different DNA, which defines it as another form of life. The unborn child only is dependent on its mother for food and shelter. The child is merely living within the mother?s womb separate, and independent (Schwarz 2). The other great myth about abortion, is that the unborn child is not alive. Well before that can be proved or disproved, what defines life in an individual? Life in Webster?s terms is defined simply as ?mode of existence?. Webster?s definition leads one nowhere, but out of the twenty-five people surveyed on what they felt was the essence of life: twelve felt a regular heart beat was the answer, eight felt brain waves where a sure sign, three figured it was movement, two were certain it was a sense of touch, as in heat, coolness, pain, and ect. (Twenty-five Anonymous). According to Webster?s definition life begins at conception for a child. Referring to the twelve people surveyed, that felt a heart beat meant life, a child?s life nearly starts after about seventeen to eighteen days after conception when the heart and blood have finished development. Then life ?officially? starts at about twenty-four days, before the woman has even realized she had missed her next period (Schwarz 3). To even further back up the fact that the child had a heart beat, and ECG test can be used to show that a 5.5 week embryo will show classic elements of an adult ECG (Schwarz 4). The eight people that replied that brain waves was a sure sign of life, would need only to wait twenty days before not only the brain has developed, but also the entire nervous system and spinal cord (Schwarz 4). Following that in the sixth week, the child?s nervous system is so developed that the brain gives of the typical brain waves of that of an adult, and shows first signs of brain waves after forty-three days. The child has also developed its system enough to have control over its muscles, thus having movement (Schwarz 5). So for those who felt movement or the sense of touch was the key to life, the child is alive after only 6 weeks. Even though none felt intellect was a sign of life, it too can be found after only thirty-three days (Schwarz 5). After the sixth week and into the seventh, the child is a ?well proportioned small scale baby? and the rest of the time in the mother?s womb is reserved only for growth. The child has already shown all possible signs of life before the mother would even show signs of pregnancy besides that of a pregnancy test (Schwarz 2).

Abortions do not take place until the mother realizes she is pregnant, the average women only realizes she is carrying a child until after about sixth weeks. While a mother may know she is pregnant, one average abortions don?t happen until about the ninth or tenth week. There are five ways an abortion can be done: Dilation & Curettage (D&C), Suction or Vacuum Aspiration, Dilation & Evacuation (D&E), Soline Solution or Salt Poisoning, or Prostaglandin Chemical Abortion. Dilation & Curettage, D&C for short, is performed between the seventh and twelfth week, but most frequently happens during the eighth week. The procedure of D&C is as follows: a sharp curved knife cuts the tiny body up to tiny pieces, then cuts and scrapes the placenta from the inside of the uterus. The uterus is approached through the vagina. The cervix is stretched open before the procedure begins (Schwarz 22). Suction or Vacuum Aspiration uses a powerful suction tube, twenty-two times more powerful than that of a regular household vacuum. The tube is inserted through the cervix into the womb. The baby is then violently torn into pieces and sucked into a jar. This procedure also takes place between the seventh and twelfth week (Schwarz 23). Dilation & Evacuation, or D&E for short, is the same procedure as dilation and curettage, except that the procedure is done much later in development, so the child is as much as one pound heavy and over one foot long (Coppens 53). Soline Soluiton or Salt Poisoning is generally after the thirteenth week of pregnancy. This procedure involves inserting a long needle through the mother?s abdomen, filled with a strong solution of salt and is injected into the amniotic fluid. The amniotic fluid surroinds the child so in reaction the salt is swallowed and ?breathed? by the child. The salt slowly poisons the child, burning its skin as well. The mother goes into labor about a day later and gives birth to a dead, grotesque, shriveled baby, Some babies have even survied the ?salty act? and have been born alive (Coppens 88). Prostaglandin Chemical Abortion is the final way to have an abortion. This form of abortion uses a chemical developed and sold by the Upjohn Pharmaceutical Company. The chemical is a type of hormone-like compound that are injected to the muscles of the uterus, causing it to contract intensely. The contracting muscles push out the developed child. This is so unnaturally that decapitation of the child has become a common accurance during these procedures, while others are born still alive (Coppens 90). As was stated earlier, at only six weeks a child has developed its nervous system to the extent when it can move and show brain waves, but the nervous system is also developed enough to where the child can feel heat, coolness, and even pain. Each different type of abortion usually doesn?t take place until after the sixth week, and well after the seventh week. So every slice of the knife cutting it up to be removed, every limb being torn off by a huge vacuum into a small jar, and ever grain of salt burning its skin can be felt by the small innocent child, for what though?

Children are aborted, because the mother feels it?s the only alternative. Those kind of absent-minded mothers couldn?t be more wrong. There is over 1,650 families in California alone that wise to adopt, and over 17,830 more families willing to adopt as to save a baby from being aborted (Coppens 38). Do not forget getting pregnant does not happen overnight without a woman knowing it. There is countless ways that can prevent a woman from getting pregnant: condoms, chastity, family planning, and even ?the pill?. Condoms are wide spread, there is no excuse that one can not get a hold of one. There is also no excuse for not putting one on, two seconds of preparation can save a life time of torment. Chastity is a great choice to make, what better gift to give to your future spouse than your own virginity. Family planning is calculating when the woman is ovulating, and not having sex during that time, simple as that. ?The pill? can be taken too, which is the most certain way if one still wants to have sex. All in all, No Sex Is Safe Sex!

Murder is only excused when it couldn?t have been avoided, prevented, or was the slain victims fault. In abortion, the woman could have easily avoided an abortion. The woman has the choice of keep the child and giving it up to adoption or keeping the child and taking care of it herself. Safe sex or no sex can prevent abortion, there is no question there. In no way can abortion be blamed on the child, the child is there only because of the choices of its mother and father, it is not the babies choice to exist. If some one is chopped into pieces, torn apart, or poisoned, it is murder no question, but change the location of the person killed does it make a difference? Change the size of the person does it then make a difference? Change the age does that make a difference? Change all three isn?t it still considered murder? No, in all cases it is still murder just as if a person is in the womb, embryonic sized and is only a few months old, it is still murder, no matter what excuse you have.

Work Cited

Coppens, C. ?Abortion? Catholic Encyclopedia (ed 1999) ?1907

Schwarz, Dr. Stephen, The Moral Question of Abortion Ohio, 1990. @ohiolife.org

www.ohiolife.org/mqa/toc.htm

Twenty-five Anonymous People. Surveys. 11-13 March. 2000.