Abortion:Birth Control Or Legal Murder? Essay, Research Paper

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.