Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Why Abortion is Always Wrong


TEN REASONS WHY ABORTION IS WRONG

When all the evidence is lined up, reason, compassion and true feminism overwhelmingly support the choice for life. Here is a sampling of that evidence.
1. Abortion does stop a beating heart.
This is the prima facie argument against abortion. Anyone and everyone who seriously thinks about the abortion question must ultimately come to terms with the beginning of life. The facts cannot be ignored. There is human life in the womb and there can be no doubt that abortion snuffs out that life.
Even before conception it is a living human sperm that swims its way to a living human egg to form a living human zygote.
20 days after conception the new baby's heart starts beating. It is a rare case indeed in which any woman even knows she is pregnant by this time. 25 days later brain waves can be registered. In 8 weeks the brain is fully formed. At 10 weeks, just 70 days after conception, the feet are perfectly formed. You can take that new child's fingerprints in 12 weeks. 1 week later the fingernails are complete and the unborn baby begins to feel pain. This unborn fetus is truly human life, from the point of conception, not a blob or mass of tissue. Those who would say otherwise are either ignorant or deliberately distorting the facts.
Before and after the Roe versus Wade decision all the available facts supported the truth that life begins at conception. As early as 1959 in the Declaration of Human Rights, a UN resolution, we read this. "The child, by reason of its physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care including appropriate legal protection before, as well as, after birth."
In 1967, 6 years before the Supreme Court attempted to constitutionalize abortion, the First International Conference on Abortion convened. This was a gathering of entirely secular medical experts. There were no pastors, priests, or rabbis attending, at least in that capacity. Here is their conclusion. "We can find no point in time between the union of sperm and egg and the birth of an infant at which point we can say that this is not a human life."
The 97th Congress Senate subcommittee reported, "Physicians, biologists, and other scientists agree that conception marks the beginning of the life of a human being, a being that is alive and is a member of the human species. There is overwhelming agreement on this point in countless medical, biological and scientific writings."
A 1985 issue of Newsweek magazine, 12 years after abortions became unfortunately routine, still makes the claim, "In most serious debates, however, it is taken as a biological fact that a fetus is alive, human and unique."
The Supreme Court had all the scientific facts before them. Abortion stops a beating heart. Doctors, politicians, journalists all agree. And no research has ever contradicted this most fundamental of all facts. Abortion takes a human life. Not to argue this issue or to make it secondary to a "woman's right to choose" is to ignore the most important of all issues in the debate.
2. The Supreme Court ruling for abortion was a specious decision.
Specious means that the decision seemed desirable but was not really so. It had the appearance of good and right but was without real merit.
The Roe Case was presented on fabricated grounds. Norma McCorvey claimed to have been raped and wanted to legalize abortions for that reason. The truth is that she was pregnant due to consensual sex and just didn't want the hassle of pregnancy. Though the court made no comment about rape in its decision this case would never have been heard if the plaintiff had admitted the truth-that she just did not want the child.
For all the talk about the separation of church and state, the Supreme Court of 1973 demonstrated gross hypocrisy in this decision. Justice Blackman wrote the majority decision. He claimed that paganism, if any religion, would be his guide. So he disdained all religion but this one, in spite of the fact that America is decidedly Christian in its origin and organization. The Constitution cannot be interpreted properly without that understanding.
He purposely set aside the Hippocratic Oath, which enforces a doctor's belief that life begins at conception, as having no relevance. In fact, quite seriously, he added. "We need not resolve the question of when life begins."
It is a matter of extreme arrogance or bold indifference to pass off this question as irrelevant. Reams of factual evidence and scientific research prove that life begins at conception. For 7 justices to blatantly ignore that evidence is to rule against humanity. Their decision may have presented a good outward appearance but because the relevant facts were ignored and obvious bias displayed the choice was without merit judicially.
3. Abortion is unconstitutional.
The Constitution was ordained and established to "secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and to our posterity." That any life would be deliberately and 'legally' eliminated from the role of posterity is completely overruled by this fundamental understanding.
Bernard Nathanson ran the largest abortion clinic in America. He is also the man who fabricated the number of illegal abortions occurring before 1973. He admitted later that when he said 10,000 a year he was lying so that the courts would pay attention. But after taking a reasonable and objective look at all the evidence he has become one of the leading pro-life speakers and defenders of the unborn. He said that the Supreme Court decision was made in "a scientific vacuum." What is its basis?
The only ground the Court stood on was a presumed "right to privacy." There is no such statement in the Constitution. It was read into the early part of 14th Amendment. Yet that amendment clearly states later "no state shall deprive any person of the right to life . . . without the due process of law, nor deny to any person . . . the equal protection of the laws." The right to life actually exists in our Constitution. The right to privacy does not. And even if it did let me tell you that abortion is anything but private. It is a surgical procedure that involves violent intrusion into a mother's body performed and witnessed by at least three, the mom, the doctor, and the assistant.
It is also clear that the Court can be very inconsistent on the definition of this mystical right to privacy. In 1986 it disappeared when homosexuals sought to legalize sodomy.
The Roe decision, like many other High Court rulings, violates the 10th Amendment. "The powers not relegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. The Supreme Court's only constitutional authority was to turn this case back over to the state of Texas from where it came.
4. Hard cases make bad law.
Rape comprises about 1% of all the possible reasons for abortion. Yet it was upon this thin basis that the Court ruled. Rape is a traumatic event and leaves its own kind of scars. But rape very seldom produces pregnancy. So to make a sweeping decision, which legalized abortion for all reasons because of this one hard case, is to make a bad law.
If one person you know wants to legalize child abuse because he can't control his temper you would never expect a law to be passed in his favor, a law that permitted child abuse across the board for any reason. But that is the essence of the Roe versus Wade ruling. One person, claiming the hardship of an unwanted pregnancy, provided the Court with an opportunity to legalize the abuse of 1.5 million babies every year.
This illustration is relevant, in another the way. Since the Roe v Wade decision child abuse has increased.
5. Abortion devalues all life.
We should not be surprised that child abuse has become a greater problem since 1973. If the innocent, unborn child can be abused, why not children who provoke adults?
Next on the horizon are the elderly or incurable. If innocent, unborn children can be killed why not adults who have become useless to society. After all, they have had, at least, some life behind them. (For example, the recent state-sanctioned killing of Terri Schiavo.)
Abortion brings us one step closer to the infanticide of retarded or infirm children. If it is okay to abort a Down's syndrome baby that you know is afflicted pre-birth, why not a child that is born with some deformity of which you were not aware after his or her birth.
6. Most Americans are pro-life.
In a Zogby ``American Values'' poll respondents were asked to choose between the two statements, ``abortion destroys a human life and is manslaughter,'' or ``abortion does not destroy a life and is not manslaughter.''
The nationwide poll of 1,005 likely voters with a margin of error of +/- 3.2% showed that 51% believed that that abortion destroys a human life and is manslaughter while another 35% said that abortion does not destroy a life and is not manslaughter. Eight percent agreed with neither statement while 6% said they weren't sure. (January 2001)
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) – September 2003. Despite claims to the contrary by the media and pro-abortion groups, the second poll in the last three months has confirmed that a majority of women are pro-life. When the national crisis pregnancy organization Care Net wanted a poll on women's views about ultrasound legislation in Congress, they also asked their pollsters to also survey women's attitudes on abortion. The results the polling firm found were not what it had expected.
In 2001, when The Polling Company asked female registered voters to describe their views regarding abortion, a slight plurality (48% vs. 43% pro-life) indicated they supported abortion. Only two years later, a majority of women are pro-life. In their latest poll, 54 percent of women selected one of three different pro-life views opposing all or almost all abortions. Only 39 percent backed abortion. The results are similar to those found in a poll conducted by a pro-abortion group earlier the same year. In June, the Center for the Advancement of Women released the results of a poll showing that 51 percent of women took a pro-life position. Their poll also found that keeping abortion legal was the next to last most important priority for women as compared with other public policy issues.
Chicago, IL – A nationwide scientific poll conducted by the polling firm Wirthlin Worldwide shows that a significant majority of Americans believe that abortion is “almost always bad” for women--even when they know a woman who has had an abortion. The poll of 1001 respondents, conducted for Americans United for Life, a public interest bioethics law firm, asked three questions:
1. Just generally, do you believe that abortion is almost always a good thing for a woman or almost always a bad thing for a woman?
Base – 1001 respondents Almost always a good thing – 230 (or 23%)Almost always a bad thing – 609 (or 61%)Don’t know/refused – 162 (or 16%)
2. Do you personally know someone who has had an abortion?
Base - 1001 respondents Yes – 640 (or 64%)No – 335 (or 33%)Don’t know/refused – 27 (or 3%)
3. From your observation, was that generally a positive or negative experience?
Base – 640 respondents (those who responded “Yes” to question 2)Positive experience – 256 (or 40%)Negative experience – 352 (or 55%)Don’t know/refused – 31 (or 5%)
“This poll shows that Americans are increasingly aware that legalized abortion harms women,” said Dorinda Bordlee, Esq., Senior Legislative Counsel for Americans United for Life. “Over thirty years of abortion has wreaked havoc on women's physical and psychological heath, and has served to facilitate the sexual exploitation of women. This poll shows that Americans are facing the reality that the violence of abortion leads to disaster for women, our children, and our culture. Abortion has not turned out to be the great liberator we were told it would be.”
The poll was conducted on September 24-27, 2004.
7. There is no such thing as an unwanted child.
How often we hear this argument posted. Every child should be wanted. The fact is that every child is wanted. The pregnancy may not be wanted but the human product of that pregnancy is. Maybe the mother does not want her baby but there are thousands of families all over the world who are looking for children. Check out USA TODAY. I am not sure of the frequency but the classifieds there carry ads from couples that are searching for children and will pay whatever it costs to bring a child into their home. Since the unborn baby is alive and wanted adoption is the only right choice for those with unwanted pregnancies.
8. Rape, incest and the mother's life are not viable arguments for the continuation of all abortions.
97% of all abortions have nothing to do with these hard cases. A study conducted in PA and MN found that in 5000 cases of rape no pregnancies resulted.
Dr. Francis Koop, former Surgeon General of the US and renowned pediatrician, never had to choose between the life of the mother and the life of the child.
Pregnancy in the case of incest is also rare.
Even if we allow for abortion in these 3% of all cases we must still recognize that we are taking a human life. And we do that by making a value judgment as to whose life is more important, baby or mother.
9. Arguments based on one's right to choose are unacceptable.
There are no unlimited freedoms. Freedom of the press does not permit slander or defamation of character. Freedom of speech does not excuse lying or swindling.
My right to choose does not permit me to personally harm or injure others. Suppose you know someone who thinks it is perfectly acceptable for him to beat his wife. Would you agree with his right to choose in that case?
Some argue, "though I am personally opposed to abortion I think it should be a woman's right to choose." This is a false position. If you claimed that though you are personally opposed to beating your own wife but allowed for the right of other men to beat theirs you could not reasonably claim that you were opposed to wife beating. The same argument holds for abortion. You cannot be personally opposed, accept it for others, and claim to be against it. If you accept abortion for one you support it for all. To argue that pro-choice does not mean pro-abortion is to misunderstand the core issues.
10. Abortion is not good for women.
Perhaps the most common and certainly most vehement argument for abortion is that abortion as a woman's right is good for women. Let's see if this is true.
Women who have had abortions carry psychological scars. Consider t he many post-abortion therapy and support groups that have arisen since 1973. If abortion did not create emotional and mental stress these organizations would be unnecessary. A woman may exercise a 'right' to abortion but she has not made herself freer in the process.
The suicide rate is significantly higher among women who have had abortions.
One psychologist lists 34 identifiable consequences of abortion ranging from guilt, grief, and depression to relationship disruptions and even communication impairment.
Every year some 16,000 women suffer so badly from post-abortion trauma that they become unable to function normally.
Beyond the abortion itself there are continuing physical problems. Pelvic inflammatory disease leads to fever and sterility yet this condition has been reported in up to 30% of all cases of induced abortion.
Induced abortion causes significantly higher rates of future spontaneous abortion and chronic pelvic pain. Consequently, women who want to have babies later have reduced their chance by abortion.
Current research shows that the risk of breast cancer increases by 80% in women over 60 who have had abortion compared to women over 60 who have not.
There are still an estimated 1.5 million abortions in America every year. Given the fact that when the sex of a child is known before birth girls will be aborted more frequently than boys this means that more than half of all abortions are done to girl babies. Medical World News carries the statistics.
The arguments of early feminists are against abortion. Susan B. Anthony, a radical feminist in her day, considered abortion to be "child murder." She didn't think it had anything to do with the rights of a woman. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, another leader of the feminist movement said that because women were treated as property abortion was degrading because women were then treating their own unborn children the same way as they themselves were being treated. Alice Paul wrote the original version of the Equal Rights Amendment. She referred to abortion as "the ultimate exploitation of women."
There is hope. If you have been hurt in any way by abortion there is help available. Call Bethany Christian Services: 1-800-BETHANY (8am-12pm EST, 7 days/week)

From conception to Constitutional issues, from consensus to common sense, the facts support life. Abortion takes that life and pits the powerful against the weak and helpless. Who will stand up and defend these most in need of protection?

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