| The
Truth About Abortion
If you are considering an
abortion, the topics presented here will help you make an informed
decision. If you feel you are being pressured by others to have an
abortion and you are unsure about what to do, please read the topics
below before making up your mind.
If you have specific questions
and would like to speak with someone who cares about you and your baby,
call toll-free, (800)-848-LOVE
[ 800-848-5683] When you call, you can
remain anonymous and there is no obligation.
Click on any of
the questions below. [ Return
to Choose Life ]
What
Is Abortion?
Medical
dictionaries give clinical answers to this question – many of which
can be deceptive. They use words like, "The premature expulsion
from the uterus of the products of conception, of the embryo or of a
nonviable foetus."1
All those
words boiled down mean simply this: abortion is the deliberate killing
of an unborn child.
While some
in the medical profession may be uncomfortable using such direct
language, it remains the truth. You may prefer to say, "Officer,
I was engaged in discourse on my wireless communication device when
that stop sign went by and escaped my view." But the policeman is
going to boil it down to the hard truth as he writes you the ticket:
"Miss, you blew a stop sign. That'll be $180."
You see, we
can use whatever words we like to describe something – but
ultimately, we know what the truth is. Some medical types might want
to say abortion is the "expulsion" of the "products of
conception" (sometimes also wrongly called a "lifeless
clump of tissue"), but the truth is, "expulsion"
doesn't quite describe what really happens. Many methods of abortion
literally rip "products of conception" limb from limb in the
process. Of course, before the abortion, those "products of
conception" made up the beating heart, the functioning brain and
the moving limbs of a living, developing human child.
Remember, you can dress up a
pig in a silk evening gown, but underneath, it's still a pig. No
matter what words people use to disguise abortion, it is always the
deliberate killing of an innocent human being. Even Planned
Parenthood, the organization which perfoms the most abortions in
America, is very clear about what abortion is. They wrote:
An abortion kills the life of
a baby after it has begun. It is dangerous to your life and health.
It may make you sterile so that when you want a child you cannot
have it. 2
Reference Notes:
1 Response received to search
on word "abortion" at http://www.medical-dictionary.com/
2 From the Planned Parent
hood brochure Plan Your Children for Health and Happiness.
Top
Is
abortion moral?
In his book,
Pro Life Answers to Pro Choice Arguments, Randy Alcorn makes a
compelling statement. He writes,
What is
legal is not always right. One of the weakest arguments for the
legitimacy of abortion is that it is legal. Civil law does not
determine morality. Rather, the law should reflect a morality that
exists independently of the law. Can anyone seriously believe that
abortion was immoral on January 21, 1973, and moral on January 23,
1973? If abortion killed children before the law changed, it
continues to kill children after the law changed. Law or no law,
either abortion has always been right and always will be, or it has
always been wrong and always will be.
"In
the last century, slaveowners argued that the slaves were theirs and
they had the right to do with them as they wished. [Slaveowners]
claimed that their personal rights and freedom of choice were at
stake. They said slaves were not fully persons. They said they would
experience economic hardship if they were not allowed to have
slaves, and they developed slogans to gain sympathy for their cause.
They maintained that others could choose not to have slaves, but had
no right to impose their anti-slavery morality on them. Above all,
they argued, slavery was perfectly legal, so no one had the right to
oppose it.
"This
point of view was given further legal support in the Dred Scott
decision of 1857. The Supreme Court determined in a 7-2 decision
that slaves were not legal persons and were therefore not protected
under the Constitution. In 1973, the Supreme Court, by another 7-2
decision, would determine that unborn children also were not legal
persons and therefore not protected under the Constitution. In 1857
the chief justice of the Supreme Court said, 'A black man has no
right which the white man is bound to respect.' 1 Despite slavery's
legality, however, Abraham Lincoln challenged its morality. 'If
slavery is not wrong,' he said, 'then nothing is wrong.' 2
"In
the 1940s a German doctor could kill Jews legally, while in America
he would have been prosecuted for murder. In the 1970s an American
doctor could kill unborn babies legally, while in Germany he would
have been prosecuted for murder. Laws change. Truth and justice
don't. 3
Reference
Notes:
1 Roger B.
Taney, cited by James C. Dobson and Gary L. Bauer, Children at Risk (Waco,Tex.:
Word Publishing, 1990), 141
2 Ibid.
3 The
references above from Randy Alcorn, writing in Pro Life Answers to Pro
Choice Arguments (Portland: Multnomah Books, 1992).
Top
But,
if it's my body, why shouldn't I have an abortion if I want to?
Your tonsils or appendix are
part of your body – individual organs you were born with – which
you can have removed if necessary. Your baby, on the other hand, is
not one of your organs, it's a whole new person, temporarily living
and growing inside of you. The body you kill with abortion is not your
own. The body killed by abortion belongs to another human being who is
distinctly different and separate from you.
Randy Alcorn writes,
One's body does not belong to
another's body merely because of proximity. A car is not part of a
garage because it is parked there. A loaf of bread is not part of
the oven in which it is baked.
Louise Brown, the first
test-tube baby, was conceived when sperm and egg joined in a petri
dish. She was no more a part of her mother's body when placed there
than she had been part of the petri dish where her life began. A
child is not part of the body in which she is carried...
In 1974, the U.S. Congress
voted unanimously to delay capital punishment of a pregnant woman
until after her delivery. Every congressman – including those of
the pro-choice persuasion – knew in his heart that this unborn
baby was a separate person not guilty of his mother's crime. No stay
of execution was requested for the sake of her tonsils, heart, or
kidneys. It was done only for the sake of her child, a separate
human being with a life and rights of his own. 1
Reference Notes:
1 Randy Alcorn, writing in Pro
Life Answers to Pro Choice Arguments (Portland: Multnomah Books,
1992).
Top
If
it's just a clump of tissue, an abortion doesn't really kill a child,
right?
You decide:
Imagine a hospital ER team struggling to save the life of a baby who
was born three months premature. As the technicians work frantically,
the parents outside the operating room are praying, "Dear God,
please help the doctors keep our clump of tissue alive."
Absurd, you
say? Of course. Everyone knows that the doctors are trying to save a
living human being, not a clump of tissue. Calling it anything besides
what it is – a baby – is patently dishonest.
It makes as
much sense to call a baby a clump of tissue as it does to call an
adolescent a bag of grapes. The fact is, both the baby and the
adolescent are in varying stages of development – but both are
equally and fully human.
Top
What
if I am pregnant because of rape?
Sexual violence is a nightmare.
Dragging it out for nine months of pregnancy seems an added cruelty.
Then there's the child, for whom the truth about his or her father
could be devastating. But did anyone think to ask the victims
themselves?
In their book, Victims and
Victors (Acorn Books, 2000) 1, editors David Reardon, Amy Sobie and
Julie Makimaa draw on testimonies of 192 women who experienced
pregnancy as the result of rape or incest, and 55 children who were
conceived through sexual assault. It turns out that when victims of
violence speak for themselves, their opinion of abortion is nearly
unanimous – and the opposite of what the average person expects.
Nearly all the women
interviewed in this anecdotal survey said they regretted aborting
their babies conceived via rape or incest.
"I feel personally
assaulted and insulted every time I hear that abortion should be legal
because of rape and incest," says Kathleen DeZeeuw, whose
testimony is included in Victims and Victors. "I feel that we're
being used to further the abortion issue, even though we've not been
asked to tell our side of the story."
Her side of the story starts
with skipping a church meeting to go with a girlfriend to a local
coffeehouse. The sixth of eight children, Kathleen was raised in a
Christian home with strict rules against associating with anyone
outside her family's church congregation. So perhaps Kathleen was
naive when she agreed to go to a movie with a young man she met at the
coffeehouse.
Soon after, her head was
being bashed against his car window until she was too weak to resist.
Somehow she knew the rape that followed would make her pregnant.
"I remember screaming
over and over again," Kathleen said-a reaction that brought only
laughter from her assailant. He threw her out of the car, with a
warning that he'd hurt her worse if she told anyone. She made her way
home feeling shattered and dirty. Kathleen, only 16, kept the secret
until it couldn't be concealed. When the pregnancy became obvious, her
parents were distressed and her siblings were disgusted.
"Because I wouldn't
talk about it, many rumors started about me, and everyone had his own
interpretation of what must have 'really' happened." She was sent
to a maternity home a thousand miles away. That's where something
began to change in her heart. At first, she was repulsed at the
thought of carrying "this man's child," yet as she felt the
baby kick and move, her horror began to change to sympathy.
"I began to realize
that this little life inside me was struggling, too . . . I was no
longer thinking of the baby as the 'rapist's' . . . I now thought of
this baby as 'my baby.' My baby was all I had. I felt abandoned by
everyone. I had only this life inside me to talk to."
Not that everything was
easy. The first time Kathleen held her son, Patrick, she felt
"revulsion," because he looked exactly like his father-a
resemblance that remained as he grew into adolescence.
"The laughter of my
little boy often reminded me of the hideous laughter of this guy as he
had raped me." But Patrick kept telling his mother she needed to
forgive, as he himself had forgiven her sometimes-pained reactions to
him as well as the actions of his unknown dad. In the end, forgiveness
set Kathleen free. Victims of sexual violence need counseling and
care, Kathleen says, and plenty of time for healing. "To
encourage a woman to have an abortion is to add even more violence to
her life," she says. "Two wrongs will never make a
right." What rape takes away from a woman, abortion cannot
restore. Though many outsiders view abortion as a quick and sanitary
procedure that takes place behind closed doors, to the woman it is a
second assault, a disturbing reminder of the invasive violence she
already has endured.
"Many women report that
their abortions felt like a degrading form of 'medical rape,' "
Reardon writes. "Abortion involves a painful intrusion into a
woman's sexual organs by a masked stranger . . . For many women this
experiential association between abortion and sexual assault is very
strong . . . Women with a history of sexual assault are likely to
experience greater distress during and after an abortion than are
other women." 2
Reference Notes:
1 Victims and Victors, David C.
Reardon (Editor), Julie Makimaa (Editor), Amy Sobie (Editor). Acorn
Books, May 2000
2Rape and Incest are Tragic,
But Abortion Doesn't Heal the Pain, by Frederica Matthewes-Green;
Source: Citizen Magazine; October 2000
Top
What
if I am pregnant because of incest?
Abortion does not solve the
emotional problems created by incest. In their book, Victims and
Victors (Acorn Books, 2000) 1, editors David Reardon, Amy Sobie and
Julie Makimaa draw on testimonies of 192 women who experienced
pregnancy as the result of rape or incest, and 55 children who were
conceived through sexual assault. It turns out that when victims of
violence speak for themselves, their opinion of abortion is nearly
unanimous – and the opposite of what the average person expects.
When it comes to incest,
Reardon, Sobie and Makimaa point the reader toward the real problem.
The Real Problem
For victims of incest, itself a
form of rape. . . pregnancy can represent their only hope of escaping
the abusive situation. They may have been threatened and beaten; they
may have been told, for example, "If you tell your mother, I'll
kill her."
To such a girl, pregnancy
may not be the problem. Incest is the problem, and pregnancy may be
the solution – a way to force someone to recognize her plight and
rescue her. Reardon writes: "Unlike pregnancies resulting from
rape, most incest pregnancies are actually desired, at least at a
subconscious level, in order to expose the incest."
Reardon discovered that in
virtually every case of pregnancy after incest, the abortion was not
the girl's decision. "In several cases, the abortion was carried
out over the objections of the girl who clearly told others that she
wanted to give birth to her child."
Instead, the abortion was
demanded by the adults in her life, and frequently – for obvious
reasons – by the perpetrator himself. Abortion turns out to be a
great way to destroy evidence.
Dr. Julio C. Novoa performed
five abortions on three sisters who had been habitually raped by their
father. The doctor didn't suspect a thing.
"When these patients
came to my office, they came with a mother, and you, as a doctor, feel
comfortable that the family knows," Novoa said in the book.
"They never, never made a mention or a 'hint' that anything was
wrong. The girls were between 13 and 19, and their mother facilitated
the incest and the abortions."
The situation ended only
when the youngest girl scrawled at the bottom of a history test that
she hated life and wanted to die.
But surely a young girl who
is pregnant shouldn't be encouraged to have a baby, should she? She
probably has unrealistic ideas that the baby will provide her with the
unconditional love she craves. She may have naive fantasies that the
child will be like a doll she can dress up and play with.
"It is precisely the
young girl's attachment to her baby, whether realistic or unrealistic,
which ensures with 100 percent reliability that she will be
traumatized by the abortion," Reardon writes. "To the young
girl, the abortion is not an act of free will by which she is
regaining her future. It is the destruction of her baby, her 'baby
doll,' even. . . . Which would the young girl rather have? A baby or a
traumatic surgery wherein she is forced to participate in the murder
of her baby?"
Healing by Adoption
Contrary to conventional
wisdom, the most loving thing a young girl can do for her child is
also the best for her own emotional well-being: Give birth, then place
the child for adoption. Reardon cites a 1979 article by Dr. George E.
Maloof, a San Francisco-area psychiatrist who strongly recommended
that children conceived in incest be adopted, not only for the child's
sake but so the original family can begin to heal. (Incidentally,
children of incest are not doomed to be victims of deformity due to
"inbreeding." Such problems typically emerge following a
repeated pattern of incest over several generations.)
Writes Maloof: "Only
after having the child adopted can there be some assurance that this
new life will not simply become part of the incestuous family affair.
The family can be consoled by the knowledge that they have broken
their incestuous pattern."
Some women who had children
. . . then raised them, feel adoption would have been the better
course. . . Kathleen DeZeeuw writes: "I personally believe that
for her child's sake, the rape victim should strongly consider
adoption. That may sound strange coming from me, but I know the
emotional problems that can result from being daily reminded of the
assault. In many cases it may be truly better for the child that he or
she not be subjected to this added turmoil."
Sharon Bailey saw conflict
over her daughter become one of the stresses that undermined her
marriage. She says her daughter "would have had a more normal
life" if she had been [placed for adoption].
On the other hand, Nancy
Cole* raised a child after being impregnated by her father and is
satisfied with her decision.
"My daughter is now 18,
loves the Lord and is happy and well-adjusted. I have raised her all
my life, and I know I made the right decision."
Conquering the Rape (or Incest)
While it looks at first glance
as if rushing victims of violence to an abortion clinic is the
greatest kindness, listen carefully and you'll find it is not at all
what they want.
"The victim may sense,
at least at a subconscious level, that if she can get through the
pregnancy she will have conquered the rape," Reardon writes.
"By giving birth, she can reclaim some of her lost self-esteem.
Giving birth, especially when conception was not desired, is a totally
selfless act, a generous act, a display of courage, strength and
honor.
"It is proof that she
is better than the rapist. When he was selfish, she can be generous.
While he destroyed, she can nurture." 2
Reference Notes:
1 Victims and Victors, David C.
Reardon (Editor), Julie Makimaa (Editor), Amy Sobie (Editor). Acorn
Books, May 2000
2Rape and Incest are Tragic,
But Abortion Doesn't Heal the Pain, by Frederica Matthewes-Green;
Source: Citizen Magazine; October 2000
Incest: The Story of Sharon
Louise...
When I was a child, I had a
magical visitor who came to me in the night. In the morning, I would
remember him sitting at my bedside the night before. As my window was
slightly open, I decided my night visitor was Peter Pan. I felt
special to have a fairy-tale figure visit me, but was strangely uneasy
about his visits.
Nevertheless, it was my
secret. I never told anyone. It was not until I was 37 years old that
I realized that Peter Pan was my father, and the secret was incest . .
. a despicable secret that irreversibly altered my life long before I
remembered its existence. My father began molesting me when I was two
years old. It began when we would sit together on the back steps of
our house. When he first began to slip his hand under me, I was
startled and confused by this unusual behavior. I couldn't understand
what was happening to me, or why. I knew my daddy loved me but why did
he keep touching me in a way I didn't want to be touched? "This
is our little secret," he would say, and I knew better than to
disagree. Nobody in our household disagreed with Daddy.
Because my father could not
hold a job, my mother had to work day and night to support the family.
This gave my father easy access to me, and the molestation continued
throughout my childhood. I was torn apart inside. I hated my father
for what he was doing to me, and yet I loved him because he was my
father. This added to the guilt I already felt since I, like most
incest victims, I believed that somehow the incest was my fault. If I
could only be a better little girl, if I could only pray harder, he
would stop. I felt totally responsible and at the same time,
completely helpless to stop it. When I was twelve, I became pregnant.
I was fearful that my father would harm or even kill our baby, but I
had no idea that he could destroy the child before he was even born.
On the evening of November 26, 1966, my father met an abortionist and
paid him a sum of money. I never knew the price of my child's life. My
father sent me with the abortionist, telling me that I was to be
"checked." He promised to wait outside. I was to have
nightmares of that evening for the rest of my life.
There was not much time to
dwell on feelings in my childhood. Life went on the same as before,
with my father molesting me. I suppressed my emotions to survive. At
age 14, I became pregnant again and my father arranged for another
abortion. There was a different "doctor" and a different
location, but the results were the same. My baby was killed to protect
my father from disclosures of the incest. Again, my heart was broken,
and I assumed the blame. I felt empty, hopeless, and very, very sad.
It was obvious to me after
the second abortion that my father had complete control over me.
Willing abortionists freed my father so that he could continue the
assaults unabated. Hired assassins killed my children, children whose
mere existence exposed my father's crimes. I believe it was following
the second abortion that I blocked out all memories of the incest. It
was all too much for the mind of a child to handle. I do not know how
long after the second abortion the abuse continued, but believe it was
throughout my high school years.
When the memories of the
incest returned, pain and grief became my companions. I had not only
blocked out my abusive childhood, but replaced it with a fantasy happy
childhood and a Daddy I believed had always loved and cared for me. It
has hurt deeply to see the truth, but I know this is the only way I
can be healed of the destructive effects the incest has had in my
life, such as depression, guilt, and shame which have always consumed
me even though I had no memories of the incest.
The hardest to bear has been
the abortions. I feel such a deep sense of loss and grief. It is
extremely painful for me to be around babies or pregnant women, and
tears flow easily when walking near the baby section of a grocery
store.
There are those who would
use my story as an excuse to keep abortion legal, since both of my
abortions were illegal. But legal abortion would not have helped me.
It would simply have made it easier for my father to victimize me. My
pain would not be any less and my babies would still be dead.
Abortion, legal or illegal, is not a simple, safe procedure.
People ask how can one be so
cruel and heartless to say that an incest victim must carry her baby
to term when she's already been through so much pain. Such people
forget that abortion does not relieve the trauma that an incest victim
lives with. It does not alleviate the shame, the emotional wreckage,
the self-destructive feelings, the feelings of helplessness and
hopelessness. No! Legal abortion does not alleviate any of these
problems; it merely adds one more trauma to the long list of scars
that the victim must carry.
Reference Note:
Since most incest victims do
not become pregnant, Sharon's story may not be typical of incest
victims. However, her story is reproduced here because her experience
is representative of the emotional trauma incest victims experience.
Further, as you'll read below, there is no clinical evidence that
abortion is of any benefit to victims of incest.
Incest: The Deep, Dark Secret...
The shame of incest is kept as
"a deep, dark secret" – even in today's society. Because
of the trauma which accompanies incest, abortion is routinely
suggested as the only solution for the victim who becomes pregnant.
Individuals with the best intentions argue that the woman should not
have to carry the "reminder" of a painful experience for
nine months. They argue further that the victim did not ask to become
pregnant, so abortion is the obvious solution.
David Reardon, nationally
recognized Post-Abortion Syndrome expert and researcher, has written
about incest, pregnancy and abortion: ". . . Abortion was simply
presumed to be the best answer – at least best for society if not
for the women, girls, or children. Through abortion, they suggested,
we could cover up these embarrassing victims of our sick society; we
could destroy the 'unclean' offspring of our sexual perversions. But
in fact, just as with rape, there is no psychiatric evidence, nor even
any theory which argues that abortion of an incestuous pregnancy is
therapeutic for the victim – it is only more convenient for everyone
else."1
Abortion merely conceals the
perpetrator's awful act of sexual transgression (through incest), and
eliminates any physical evidence of wrongdoing. The reasoning goes, if
there is no child, there is no evidence. Most importantly, abortion
allows the denial and silence surrounding the incest to continue
within the family, and prevents outside awareness and intervention.
The perpetrator remains free to continue the abuse of his victim.
Reardon calls incest the
conspiracy of silence. "Though the daughter desperately wants to
be out of the situation, it should be remembered that she would prefer
to break the incest pattern in a way that would allow her to maintain
or regain the love of her parents. Pregnancy is an avenue which offers
to fulfill both of these requirements.
Abortion of an incestuous
pregnancy, then, not only adds to the girl's guilt and trauma, it also
frustrates her plans for escape and attention. Abortion perpetuates
the 'conspiracy of silence' by covering up the incest, or at least its
results, and continues the family pattern of denying reality."2
Reardon adds, "The cry
that abortion should be available for pregnancy resulting from incest
has little or no foundation. Statistics available show that incestuous
pregnancies are infrequent. American studies involving a total of
almost 2,000 cases of incest report a pregnancy rate of only I
percent..."3 As early as 1979, Dr. George Maloof, noted author,
physician and psychiatrist in the San Francisco area, writes in The
Psychological Aspects of Abortion, that "considering the
prevalence of teenage pregnancies in general, incest treatment
programs marvel at the low incidence of pregnancy from incest."4
However, pregnancies from
incest do exist, but abortion does not solve these cases nor eliminate
the trauma that case studies show incest victims experience. One such
victim was Sharon Louise, who has her story reproduced above. She was
an incest victim who was coerced into an abortion by her father, not
once but twice. Her story shouts of her pain and helplessness, and
demonstrates firsthand, the further victimization of women by
abortion.
Reference Notes:
1 Reardon, David, Aborted
Women: Silent No More, Loyola University Press, 1987, p. 199.
2 Ibid., p. 201.
3 Ibid., p. 202
4 Maloof, George, "The
Consequences of Incest," The Psychological Aspects of Abortion,
University Publications of America, 1979, p. 74.
"Incest: The Deep, Dark
Secret" was assembled by Catherine Souhrada. She is the Education
Director for the Wisconsin Right to Life Education Fund. She has a
bachelor's degree in social work and a master's degree in health
administration. She has worked extensively in the community on public
education and in nursing homes as a social worker.
Top
What
if my unborn baby has medical problems?
Most expectant parents when
asked if they want a boy or girl, respond that they don't care, as
long as the child is healthy. Parents have been known to count their
baby's fingers and toes almost immediately after birth for reassurance
that the baby is okay.
With most pregnancies, a
normal outcome can be expected. However, in that small number of
pregnancies where something has gone awry, hopes and dreams can be
shattered, and parents truly experience a sense of loss. Most often,
this does not mean they love their child any less, but they grieve for
their child and themselves, and experience fear and uncertainty
regarding the future. What changes will they have to make in their
lives? How severe is their child's disability? What does the
prognosis, which is often overly grim, mean? Will their child live or
die?
Increasingly, with the
legalization of abortion at all stages of pregnancy, prenatal testing
and diagnosis has become a tool by which parents decide whether or not
to end the life of their unborn child should a disability be present.
Physicians are pressured to offer such tests out of fear they will be
successfully sued for the "wrongful" birth of a child with a
disability.
Currently, most testing is
done around 15 to 20 weeks into the pregnancy. The most common
diagnostic tests are the triple screen (a combination of
alpa-fetoprotein, HCG, and estriol used primarily to detect Down
syndrone), ultrasonography, amniocentesis, or a combination of any of
these tests. Another test is chorionic villus sampling (CVS), and when
done is usually conducted early in pregnancy (8 to 12 weeks). Some
medical studies have found the miscarriage rate to be higher following
CVS than for anmiocentesis.1 CVS has been associated with the birth of
babies with limb abnormalities (1-6%), especially when CVS is
performed before the 8th week of pregnancy .2
The most common genetic
abnormality is Down syndrome which affects one in 800 births. Down
syndrome is most often associated with women who become pregnant at an
older age and, perhaps, paternal age greater than 55 years. While for
women in the 18-year-old-age group, the occurrence of Down syndrome is
one in 2,100 births; for women age 30 it is one in 1,000 births; and
for women 40, one in 100 births. 3
Although not considered a
severe disability, a large, multi-institutional study published in
1991 showed that 92% of Down syndrome children detected prenatally
have their lives ended by abortion. 4
Many people with Down
syndrome are capable of living remarkably normal lives. Why? One word:
hope.
The second most common
abnormality is the presence of a neural tube defect (NTD) which is
"any defect of the brain and spinal cord caused by failure of the
neural tube to close during growth during pregnancy...."5 The
incidence of NTD is one child in 1,000 births. 6 This means that
approximately 2,500 infants with NTDs are born in the United States
each year. 7
Neural tube defects (which
account for five percent of all U.S. birth defects each year) 8 cause
conditions known as spina bifida (open spine), anencephaly (lack of
brain formation), and encephalocele (an abnormal closure of the spinal
column). Anencephaly in a condition incompatible with life, and these
infants usually die within a few hours or days. Typically, spina
bifida is accompanied by hydrocephalus (fluid on the brain) in 70% to
90% of infants. "All will have bowel and bladder abnormalities,
although with new techniques, bowel and bladder continence is becoming
a realistic goal for most individuals with spina bifida,"
according to Dr. Harold Rekate, an expert on treatment for spina
bifida.9Intellect of children with spina bifida can range from
profound retardation to high intelligence, although few have profound
retardation.10
"One of the most
exciting medical findings in the last part of the 20th century is that
folic acid, a simple, widely available water-soluble vitamin, can
prevent spina bifida and anencephaly," proclaims a march, 1993
editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association.11 Read:
Why should I be taking folic acid now, if I think I might become
pregnant
?
Consequently, the U.S.
Public Health Service has recommended that all women of childbearing
age capable of becoming pregnant should consume 0.4 mg. of folic acid
every day to reduce the risk of a neural tube defect.12
An unknown number of
children with NTDs are aborted each year.13 The overall rate of
abortion when an abnormality is detected in the child is at least 73%,
with some authorities placing the rate between 80% and 100%.14 Not
only are there questions about killing unborn children, but new
technology has raised ethical questions regarding whether or not
having a baby is becoming analogous to buying a car. These new
technologies include: (1) screening embryos conceived through in vitro
fertilization for genetic defects, (2) screening for the sex of the
child, and (3) discovery of genes which could signify significant
disease or even behaviors at some later time in the individual's life.
For example, in a recent
study of 200 couples by the New England Regional Genetics Group, 1%
would abort on the basis of sex, 6% would abort a child likely to
contract Alzheimer's in old age, and 11% would abort a child
predisposed to obesity.15 This raises the specter of a eugenic society
which regards the perfection of the person as more important than the
existence of the person.
Some justify this
discrimination by arguing that the child is a "burden"
placed on the family, that the child is "spared" a life of
"suffering," or that the child is "better off
dead" because his/her life is deemed not worth living. These
attempts at justification speak volumes about cultural attitudes which
demean those who have differences, and how far we have come in
accepting elimination of those differences by whatever means
available, including death.
Unquestionably, society must
be concerned about the additional stress placed on a family caring for
a child with a disability. We must be committed to providing services
which not only assist the family but also offer opportunities for the
child to reach his/her full potential. Fortunately, many of these
opportunities now exist with:
- Educational programs
geared to the needs of the individual with disabilities.
- Birth-to-three early
intervention programs, whose goal is to enhance the development of
the child in the earliest years when results are most beneficial.
- Vocational programs for
those with disabilities.
- Assistive technology,
which perfects technological devices such as computers and voice
boxes to assist specific disabilities.
- Independent living
programs to allow persons with disabilities to live in the
community.
- Programs to assist the
person with a disability to be employed.
- Codes requiring public
places to provide access for people in wheelchairs.
- Finally, many caring
families are willing to adopt children with disabilities.
How must a person with a
disability feel to know that his or her existence is deemed so
meaningless, so valueless, that an unborn child with any disability
can be destroyed by abortion? That attitude can, many times, be more
of a burden than the disability itself.
Parents who learn that their
unborn child has a disability are initially confronted with fear and
uncertainty. But with support and encouragement, medical technology
and community support, they and their children can live fulfilling,
successful lives.
Reference Notes:
1 Halliday et al, The Lancet,
October 10, 1992, Volume 340, p. 886.
2 Brambati et al., Prenatal
Diagnosis, 1992, Volume 12, p. 789-799. Journal of Assisted
Reproductions and Genetics, 1992, Volume 9, Number 4, pp. 299-302.
3 "Down Syndrome,"
Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2000.
4 Vincent et al., Southern
Medical Journal, October 1991, Volume 84, Number 10, Table 1.
5 Mosby Medical
Encyclopedia, Plume Company, New York, 1992, P. 354.
6 Journal of the American
Medical Association, March 10, 1993, Volume 269, Number 10, p.1292.
7 Ibid, p. 1233.
8 "Healthy Beginnings:
Nutrition's Role in Preventing Birth Defects," An interview with
James L. Mills, M.D., Chief of the Pediatric Epidemiology Section of
the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, on
nutrition-related research on the prevention of neural tube defects,
low birth weight and other adverse birth outcomes, 11/1/2000.
9 Rekate, Harold L., M.D.,
Comprehensive Management of Spina Bifida, 1991, Intro.
10 Ibid.
11 Journal of the American
Medical Association, p. 1292.
12 Ibid., p. 1233.
13 Ibid.
14 Southern Medical Journal,
p. 1211.
15 Cowley, Geoffrey,
Newsweek Special Issue, Made to Order Babies," Winter/Spring,
1990, Volume 114, Number 4, p.98.
Top
How
many babies are aborted each year world-wide?
I fear the power of choice
over life or death at human hands. I see no human being whom I could
ever trust with such power -- not myself nor any other. Human wisdom
and human integrity are not great enough. --Pearl S. Buck
Each year an estimated 50
million babies are aborted worldwide. At the current rate, an
estimated 43% of women will have at least one abortion by the time
they are 45 years old. 46% of women who get abortions have had one or
more previous abortions.1
Top
How
many babies are aborted each year in the United States?
In the United States about
3,700 babies are aborted each day or approximately 1,350,500 annually.
That's one every 24 seconds. For every 100 births in the United
States, there are 31 abortions.1
Top
How
many babies are aborted each year in the Florida?
Florida Live Birth and
Abortion statistics for 1999
Revision
05/00, by Florida Right to Life staff editor
The number
of live births and abortions performed in Florida thru December for 1999 have
been reported by the Florida Department of Health. The Office of Vital
Statistics reported there were 83,971 abortions recorded during 1999. This does
represent a statewide increase of 1,636 since 1998. Of those reported abortions,
82,589 (98.3%) were personal choice elective
procedures.
The total
number of counties that reported abortions have decreased to 19 for 1999, vs. 21
reported abortions from 1998. In Orange County there was an eight percent (8%)
decrease of abortions performed with 10,173 in 1998, vs. 9,341 in 1999. Seminole
County had the biggest increase of abortions performed in 1999, with 735 total
terminations of life reported in 1999, vs. Zero (0) in
1998.
Statewide there were 196,288 live
births and 83,971 abortions in 1999. The percentage of abortions relative to the
number of pregnancies in 1999 was 43%. This calculates to 33% of all pregnancies
in Florida during 1999 ended in an abortion.
Listed below
is a county-wide comparison of the abortion and live birth rates for year ending
1999. All statistical information is courtesy of the Florida Department of
Health, Office of Vital Statistic.
Thru December 1999
|
County |
Abortions |
Live
Births |
|
Alachua |
2,161 |
2,382 |
|
Brevard |
1,115 |
4,716 |
|
Broward |
9,924 |
20,982 |
|
Charlotte |
262 |
954 |
|
Collier |
* 0 |
2,862 |
|
Dade-Miami |
22,343 |
31,465 |
|
Duval |
6,269 |
12,057 |
|
Escambia |
2,470 |
3,945 |
|
*Hillsborough |
6,544 |
14,400 |
|
Lee |
2,063 |
4,746 |
|
Leon |
2,682 |
2,927 |
|
*Marion |
573 |
2,759 |
|
Orange |
9,341 |
13,140 |
|
Palm
Beach |
6,341 |
13,011 |
|
Pinellas |
3,954 |
9,210 |
|
Polk |
1,244 |
6,576 |
|
*St.
Lucie |
835 |
2,140 |
|
Sarasota |
1,914 |
2,630
|
|
*Seminole |
735 |
4,440 |
|
Volusia
|
|
|
|
* Note - The following counties had the highest increases in the
abortions performed in 1999, vs. 1998: |
|
|
|
|
|
Hillsborough
|
|
|
|
Marion
|
|
|
|
St
Lucie
|
|
|
|
Seminole
|
|
|
Top
Why
do women abort their babies?
Women abort their babies for
all kinds of reasons but there is a usually a common element – fear.
For example, some women:
- fear what their parents
will say
- fear they are either to
young or too old to have a child
- fear they won't be able
to support a child financially
- fear becoming a parent
- fear a child may
interfere with their plans to finish high school or college
- fear a child may
interfere with their current career or future career plans
- fear a child will be a
reminder of a rape
- fear having "the
secret" revealed, if they are victims of incest
While all of these fears may be
legitimate, none of them are impossible to overcome. As we have
learned from the women's movement, a woman is strong, courageous and
capable of overcoming whatever challenge life might throw at her –
including carrying a child to term. Adoption is often the best
alternative. Today, there are more loving, adoptive parents waiting
for babies than there are babies to fill the need!
Sadly, one of the main
reasons women abort their babies is because they are coerced. In other
words, they are pressured by a boyfriend, a husband, a parent or an
abortion clinic worker to abort their baby. Women should never make a
decision about abortion without hearing both sides of the story.
Without knowing both sides, women allow themselves to be forced into
making a tragic decision that will effect them emotionally (and
perhaps physically) for the rest of their lives.
To understand the side of
abortion others may not tell you about, continue to read questions and
answers about abortion on this web site. Take care to read about the
wide variety of risks associated with abortion. There are physical
risks (including an increased risk for breast cancer) as well as
mental health risks (including the risk of post-abortion syndrome).
Also, read about the various options you have by carrying your child
to term. These include adoption, marriage, single-parenting and
grand-parenting.
Studies show that many women
feel pushed, prodded, pressured, even forced into abortion. While
abortion is portrayed as a choice, the truth is, many women feel they
had no choice at all. Randy Alcorn writes: Having been taught that
abortion is the easiest way out of a difficulty, fathers, mothers,
boyfriends, husbands, teachers, school counselors, doctors, nurses,
media, and peers often pressure the pregnant woman into making a
choice that is more theirs than hers.1 One young woman reflects back
on her own pregnancy:
"There were plans racing
through my mind of where we would live, what we'd name [him or her],
what [he or she] would look like. . . but, on his father's advice of
'it'll ruin your life,' (my boyfriend) opted for an abortion.
I was in shock, so I went
along with him when he said that there was no way I could have [my
baby] alone and that I'd be kicked out of the family.
Reality set in, and the
choice was not mine. That's the heartache – the choice was not
mine – it was his, my family's, society's. It was his choice
because he would have been the only financial support. It was my
family's because of the rejection of me and the unborn. And it was
society's because of the poverty cycle I would enter as a teenage
mother." 2
All choices – none of them
hers. In the panic of the moment, you can make a decision which will
haunt you for a lifetime. Take plenty of time to make your decision
and don't allow yourself to be pressured by others. No one should make
this important decision but you.
The Darkest Truth
Perhaps the darkest truth about
abortion is that the people involved in the abortion business are not
interested in women's rights, freedom "of choice" or even in
caring for women's health needs. Their dirty little secret is that
they are interested in only one thing: selling abortions.
The annual statistics posted
by the people of Planned Parenthood (who abort more babies every year
than anyone else) show that abortion is a multi-million dollar
profit-making business – even though they are supposed to be a
nonprofit operation. According to World magazine, Planned Parenthood's
1998/1999 profits (income in excess of expenditures) were a staggering
$125.8 million. "Of the [abortion] clinic operations earnings,
$58.8 million - more than 1 of every 4 dollars earned - came from
killing an unborn child." 3
No wonder they aren't likely
to counsel women to carry their babies to term and place them for
adoption. Abortion providers don't make money if they don't perform
abortions.
Many unsuspecting girls and
women, looking for help and information about their options, make
phone calls to women's health centers – which are nothing more than
abortion clinics. The help they receive is designed only to push them
toward abortion. As Carol Everett, who worked in several abortion
clinics, writes:
Those kids, when they find
out that they are pregnant, may not want an abortion; they may want
information, but when they call that number, which is paid for by
abortion money, what kind of information do you think they're going
to get? Remember, they sell abortions – they don't sell keeping
the baby, or giving the baby up for adoption, or delivering that
baby. They only sell abortions. 4
If you need truthful
information about all your options, you can speak with someone who
cares about you and your baby by calling toll-free, 1-800-395-HELP or
1-800-BETHANY. When you call, you can remain anonymous and there is no
obligation.
Reference Notes:
1 Randy Alcorn, writing in Pro
Life Answers to Pro Choice Arguments (Portland: Multnomah Books,
1992).
2 F. LaGard Smith, When
Choice Becomes God, (Eugene Ore.; Harvest House, 1990), 192-3.
3 World magazine, 4/22/00
4 "Prochoice
1990", 27.
Top
What
are the different methods of abortion?
There are quite a number of
abortion methods. At the beginning of each explanation, we will
indicate the method (either surgical or chemical) the approximate time
during the pregnancy when this type of abortion is performed, and the
name of the particular procedure
.
Surgical, First Trimester:
Suction Aspiration
Suction aspiration, or
"vacuum curettage," is the abortion technique used in most
first trimester abortions.9 A powerful suction tube with a sharp
cutting edge is inserted into the womb through the dilated cervix. The
suction dismembers the body of the developing baby and tears the
placenta from the wall of the uterus, sucking blood, amniotic fluid,
placental tissue, and fetal parts10 into a collection bottle.ll
Great care must be taken to
prevent the uterus from being punctured during this procedure, which
may cause hemorrhage and necessitate further surgery. 12 Also,
infection can easily develop if any fetal or placental tissue is left
behind in the uterus. This is the most frequent post-abortion
complication.13
Surgical, First Trimester:
Dilatation* and Curettage (D&C)
* Note: Sometimes the term
"dilation" rather than "dilatation" is used.
In this technique, the cervix
is dilated or stretched to permit the insertion of a loop shaped steel
knife. The body of the baby is cut into pieces and removed and the
placenta is scraped off the uterine wall. 14 Blood loss from D &
C, or "mechanical" curettage, is greater than for suction
aspiration, as is the likelihood of uterine perforation and
infections. 15
This method should not be
confused with routine D&C's done for reasons other than undesired
pregnancy (to treat abnormal uterine bleeding, dysmenorrhea, etc.). l6
D&C's are routinely performed after a miscarriage.
What are
chemical abortions (RU486)?
Chemical, First Trimester: RU
486
Thursday, September 28, 2000,
the Food and Drug Administration approved RU-486, a dangerous drug
combination that causes women to have chemical abortions early in
pregnancy. To ensure the abortion pill is "used accurately and
safely", the FDA mandated that women be given special brochures
called ''MedGuides'' explaining who is eligible for a drug-induced
abortion and what dangerous side effects to expect, and that they must
make three trips to the abortion facility to undergo the abortion. a
The RU 486 chemical abortion
procedure requires the administration of two potent and dangerous
drugs. The first drug, RU 486, is a powerful steroid which blocks the
action of the female hormone progesterone. As a result, the tiny
developing child literally starves to death as the nutrient lining of
the womb sloughs off. The secondary drug, either Cytotec or
Misoprostol, causes muscular contractions to expel the dead baby.
Prolonged excessive
bleeding, severe cramps, and diarrhea are some of the common side
effect of the RU 486 abortion procedure. As many as 82 percent of
patients reported painful contractions with bleeding continuing
anywhere from ten days to six weeks. One to two percent of women bled
so severely that surgical intervention is required to stop the
bleeding. Some women have require blood transfusions. During trials in
the United States, one woman in Iowa nearly bled to death. a
Often, the RU 486 abortion
procedure does not result in a complete abortion and the women must
still undergo a surgical abortion. In Wisconsin trials, 14% of
chemically induced abortions were incomplete. a
The RU 486 abortion
procedure requires 3 to 4 visits to a doctor. Fifty percent of the
time, the woman does not abort in the doctor's office. She could abort
in the car, at her place of work, at the grocery store...and she is
left completely alone to deal with the remains of her child.
Even within the abortion
industry and abortion-rights ranks, there is much dissension and
disagreement about the safety and impact of chemical abortions. For
example, Renate Klein, Deputy Director Australian Women's Research
Centre, at Deakin University, Geolong, Australia stated, "RU486
has been falsely promoted as quick, easy and hassle free. I have
vigorously refuted this . . . although I support a woman's right to a
safe and legal abortion with good counseling, I am emphatic that this
dangerous second-rate drug is not a positive addition to a women's
decision-making whether or not to have children."
Dr. Hakim Elahi, the medical
director of Planned Parenthood of New York City said the side effects
of chemical abortion are so unpredictable that he would not use it as
an abortion drug in any dose.
Janice Raymond, associate
director of the Institute on Women and Technology, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology echoed Elahi's concerns when she said,
"Claims that RU 486 abortion is private and demedicalized are
belied by the number of medical visits and the whole drug cocktail a
woman may be exposed to." b
While the FDA has approved
RU-486, the fact remains that this drug has uncertain medical effects
on the mother and clearly ends the life on an unborn child.
Chemical, First Trimester:
Methotrexate
The procedure with methotrexate
is similar to the one using RU 486, though administered by an
intramuscular injection instead of a pill. 33
Originally designed to
attack fast growing cells such as cancers by neutralizing the B
vitamin folic acid necessary for cell division, methotrexate
apparently attack |
