FREE ESSAY ON ABORTION

ABORTION

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.
Bibliography
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.