Abortion: Do We Have The Right To Kill? Essay, Research Paper

Abortion: Do We Have the Right to Kill?

Each year millions of babies are conceived, unfortunately only about three fourths of them are actually born. Some of these babies die of natural causes; others are killed before they get the chance to experience their first breath. Abortion is fast becoming a quick fix to a rather large responsibility, especially among teenage women. Having sex is a huge responsibility, and if you aren’t ready to handle the consequences then having sex is not for you and abortion is not the answer if you do get pregnant.

As you read through the rest of this paper think about the following two questions:

1. If you knew a woman who was pregnant, who had 8 children already, three who were deaf, two who were blind, one who was mentally retarded, and she had syphilis; would you recommend that she have an abortion?

2. If the 15 year old girl across the street from you got pregnant by the 40 year old married man living with his family next door to her, would you advise her to have an abortion?

There are three basic types of abortion, abortion from above, abortion from below, and drug induced. The first type, abortion from above is generally called a hysterotomy, which, is done late in the pregnancy. This is a method that is similar to an “early” Caesarian Section. Many babies are still alive when they are removed from the mother’s womb and abortionists have been known to plunge them into buckets of water or smother them with the placenta, while others cut the cord while the baby is still inside to deprive it of oxygen. (Abortions From Above).

There are several methods used for an abortion for below, the four most common I will describe. The first is called a menstrual extraction, which is done very early, most often before the pregnancy test even comes back positive. This is just a suctioning of the fetus out of the mother’s vagina. The second is the suction method. This is performed sometime in the first trimester. The baby is torn into pieces as the hose frequently jerks because the baby often becomes lodged. The scraps are sucked into a bottle. The third method is the dilation and evacuation (D & E), done most frequently in the second trimester. The abortionist uses a tool similar to a pair of pliers to twist and pull parts of the body out as the bones have already been calcified and must be broken. The nurse’s job is to reassemble the baby to insure that all parts are there. The final of the abortions from below is called the D & X, or partial birth abortion. This is typically done in the advanced stages of pregnancy. The baby is extracted breech until only the head is left inside the cervix; scissors are then stabbed into the nape of the baby’s neck and spread apart to enlarge the wound. The abortionist then suctions out the baby’s brain and the skull collapses; the baby is then delivered completely. (Abortions From Below).

The third type is the drug-induced method, commonly called “Candy Apple Babies.” This is performed in the first trimester, using a strong salt solution. The solution is injected into the amniotic sac and the baby breathes in the poison. It takes about an hour to kill the baby and the mother delivers the dead baby a day or so after, however some do manage to survive this agonizing attempt to end their lives. The salt solution burns and strips away the outer layer of the skin causing the baby to appear very red, thus the name candy apple. (Drug Abortions). At no time during any of the methods of abortion are the babies given any type of anesthetic to ease the pain. These unborn children feel it each time one of their limbs is torn off or when the abortionist stabs the scissors into their neck, or when the salt solution begins to burn their skin off. Is this fair?

Women are often led to believe that just because abortions are legal, they are safe, but in all reality, they are far from safe. Women face injuries to the uterus, cervix, urinary tract, infection, hemorrhage, heart failure, embolism, sterilizations, ruptured intestines & bowels, coma, and even death. In addition, there are countless cases of abortionists sexually abusing their clients while under anesthesia. (Abortions Gone Wrong).

Consider this stunning fact: If you were born after the year 1973, you are lucky to be alive; one third of this generation was aborted! (Born After 1973). Think about this, two girls both get pregnant at the same time. At twenty-two weeks, girl one goes into premature labor, and although the baby needed some hospital care, it survived. At thirty-six weeks girl two decides to abort her baby and girl one shoved her baby in a garbage bag because she decided that she no longer wanted the responsibility. Now, two months later, a pro-abortion group is rewarding girl two for exercising her right to choose and girl one is serving a life sentence for murder. Are we, as a society, missing something, aren’t both of these cases of murder?

Some may say that abortion is not murder but, you are killing a human being so, how can it not be described as murder? Most abortions occur late in the first trimester or in the second trimester due to the fact that most women do not even know they are pregnant until the second or third month. By this time, the baby has already begun to develop and is identified as more than just a mass of tissue in the mother’s uterus; it’s a real baby, fighting to survive.

In 1996 alone, 1,365,700 abortions were performed. Statistics show that there have been approximately forty million abortions since 1973, which is an average of 4000 per day. The most shocking statistic of all is the reason for these abortions. About ninety-five percent of all abortions are done just as another method of birth control, which leads back to the idea that if you can’t handle the consequences and responsibilities of having sex then you shouldn’t be having sex in the first place. Having an abortion is legal in the United States no matter how far along the mother is. Some argue that this is necessary because of rape, incest, fetal abnormalities, and the effects on the mother’s health. If these reasons are so important then how come only one percent of abortions are done because the woman was raped or because the pregnancy was a case of incest, only one percent of the abortions are done because of the risk of fetal abnormalities, and only three percent are done due to the effects on the mother’s health. (Abortions Statistics)?

There are other options to consider before choosing abortion. One option would be to own up to what you have done and keep the baby, however accidents do happen and sometimes keeping the baby may not be in the best interest for you or the child. If this is the case for you then adoption should be the only other choice you have. Abortion is a lose-lose situation for everyone involved; the baby loses it’s life in a violent death, you lose, knowing that you killed a child, and you have to live with that for the rest of your life, and a perspective couple loses who really does want a baby. Just because your baby is unwanted by you does not mean that it is unwanted by everyone. There are 200,000 families that desperately want children, and each year, there are only 25,000 to be adopted. By increasing the knowledge of abortions, we can decrease the amount of them that occur and make several families out there “complete.” (Other Ways to Get Rid of the Kid).

Referring back to the two questions I left you to think about as you read the paper, I would like to tell you that both of these cases are true. If you chose to abort baby number one, you just killed Beethoven, and if you chose to abort baby number two, you just killed Jesse Jackson. This sure does make you wonder how many great leaders and achievers this world is missing because of people who aborted their children.

In conclusion, abortion is murder! All the above facts describe the horrors of this legalized killing and the many reasons why this should be stopped. Let’s make this unplanned or unwanted pregnancy a win-win situation for everyone by doing the right thing, either raising the child or giving it up for adoption.

“Abortion Statistics.” 1 March 2000. http://www.abortiontv.com/abortionstatistics.htm.

“Abortion TV, The Internet’s # 1 Abortion Information Source.” 1 March 2000. http://www.abotiontv.com/index.htm.

Lanham, Jason. “Makes You Think….This is Very Deep.” Email to Kristina Dillard. 2 March 2000.

“Ultimate Pro-Live Resource List.” 1 March 2000. http://prolifeinfo.org/abortion.html.