Abortion: Challenged to Speak Pro-Life Without the Bible, Part 1

I've been challenged by several pro-choice advocates here at Associated Content to debate some common legal abortion arguments from a pro-life position without using Bible verses. I gladly accept this challenge. The last 10 to15 years have produced plenty of scientific evidence, court cases, surveys and testimonies from sources that cannot easily be rejected as religiously motivated or compensated.

Argument #1: "Legal abortion is always safer than 'back alley' abortions."
True, for the most part. But the number of back alley abortions prior to legalization was greatly magnified, according to former abortion advocate Dr. Bernard Nathanson who himself co-founded the abortion rights group NARAL and created the phrase "pro-choice." After seeing pre-natal babies in ultrasounds, he left the movement to speak out pro-life.

Nathanson admitted in his book "Aborting America" that the back alley figures previously claimed at "5,000 to 10,000 deaths per year" were falsified. The true number was estimated closer to 500. But, Nathanson said of the higher numbers, "In our revolution it was a useful figure" (1). Nathanson has been discredited by his old pro-choice peers and ignored by mainstream press.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 36 women died from legal abortions in 1993-1997, 10 in 1998 and 4 in 1999 (2a, b). But ex-abortion clinic owner Carol Everett, in her book "Blood Money", reveals that hospital personnel often cover for abortionists by listing other reasons for consequential surgery and death. This results in under-reporting.

Everett walked away from the industry when her own past three abortions began weighing heavily on her, and abortions at her clinics had too a high rate of complication. One woman was killed or maimed per month (3).

Damage to women's colons, hemorrhaging, infection and death for various reasons are not as uncommon as most think (4). See my earlier story about the death of Laura Hope Smith in 2007 following unmonitored anesthetics during a legal abortion.

The RU-486 pill is classified as "safe legal abortion" but it induces a miscarriage as a means of abortion in the privacy of one's own home, without medical assistance. From its suspiciously quick approval in 2000 to 2006, FDA records show at least 600 documented cases of serious complications like infections from remaining baby body parts; six deaths in the U.S. including the nationally known case of Holly Patterson, and seven deaths in other countries (5). It's suggested that women who use RU486 go for a check-up two weeks later. But infection or death usually precedes two weeks.

Argument #2: "Abortion must stay legal because of (A) rape and incest, and (B) the health of the mother."
A. Rape & incest: According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute in surveys over the years of America's legalized abortion, incidents of abortion after random violence or abuse by a family member generally account for less than 2% of all abortions (6). The Guttmacher Institute, a former arm of Planned Parenthood, is not affiliated with any religious organization.

Approximately 98% of women give these following reasons for their abortion: economic factors, don't want the life-changing responsibility of a child, relationship problems (7). The rate of abortion has also increased among older women concentrating on careers, and couples who don't want any more children or are making selective choices about the sex of their child.

B. Health of the Mother: The main reason for late-term abortions, claimed as "rarely done." Before the ban on partial birth abortion, the CDC latest figures reported in 2002 stated that as of 1998, a total of 9,795 abortions per year were done at 21+ weeks' gestation (past 5 months pregnant) in the U.S. - an average of 27 late-term abortions every day (8).

Dr. Ron Fitzsimmons, former Executive Director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers, admitted in 1997 that partial birth abortion was not rare. He estimated this method was used 3,000 to 5,000 times annually (a figure not far from the CDC's above), adding: "In the vast majority of cases, the procedure is performed on a healthy mother with a healthy fetus that is 20 weeks or more along" (9).

By 1996, partial birth abortion (where a near-to-fully developed baby is purposefully turned into breech position, partially delivered and then aborted through a gruesome procedure) was prevalent. Several physicians representing PHACT, Physicians' Ad Hoc Coalition for Truth (more than 500 doctors including former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop) wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal entitled "Partial Birth Abortion is Bad Medicine":

"We are the physicians who, on a daily basis, treat pregnant women and their babies...We can no longer remain silent..." "...contrary to what abortion activists would have us believe, partial-birth abortion is never medically indicated to protect a woman's health or her fertility. In fact, the opposite is true: The procedure can pose a significant and immediate threat to both the pregnant woman's health and fertility" (10).

In 2003 their letter became testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives. President Bush signed Congress' Partial Birth Abortion Ban that year. President Obama's Freedom of Choice Act will destroy the Partial Birth Abortion Ban. There are other forms of late term abortion still not banned (See Argument #3). Koop often suggests Caesarian section instead.

Argument #3: "It's only done in the first few weeks; it's just a blob of tissue."
Soon after the Roe v. Wade decision came Doe v. Bolton, where the Supreme Court ruled that abortion can be obtained up until the day of delivery, on-demand by any mother for any reason. This cannot be done through a "harmless" suctioning procedure. New methods of abortion, such as the partial birth method mentioned above, were specifically devised to extract late-term babies.

One legal method not banned is the saline solution method, generally done between five and seven months. A lethal saline solution is injected into the amniotic fluid (the protective sac). This usually causes the fetus to be scalded to death and then the limp body is extracted.

Babies don't always die of saline abortions. Gianna Jessen didn't die when her frightened teenage mother got one at 7.5 months along. Gianna was born alive and soon diagnosed with cerebral palsy - presumed due to how she was pulled out of the womb. Now an adult, Gianna tells her story in "Aborted and Lived to Tell About It" (Jessica Shaver, Bethany House).

Today's ultrasound technology contradicts the "blob" theory. At 18-21 days from conception, heartbeats are heard in the womb. At 40 days brain waves are detectable. At8-10 weeks fingers, toes and fingerprints visible. At 12 weeks vocal chords are complete, brain is fully formed. At 16 weeks, five to eight inches tall, the baby can grasp with fully formed hands and kick with feet. At 20 weeks, it hears mother's voice, possibly survives if born now. Sucks its thumb, squints eyes from light. Sex organs are visible. Mother feels movement.

Argument #4: "The 'fetus' feels no pain."
The baby's pain receptors begin in the seventh week of pregnancy. The thalamus (brain portion receiving signals from the nervous system) starts forming in the fifth week. In the United Kingdom and most of Europe, an abortion cannot be performed past 24 weeks of pregnancy without pain killers for the unborn child.

Here in the U.S., The Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act of 2005 specifies that women who seek abortion must be notified their unborn baby may feel pain. But this act will also be overturned by Obama's Freedom of Choice Act.

Argument #5: The mother feels no pain and walks away unharmed.
Post Abortion Syndrome (long-term subsequent emotional, physical, social and mental ailments) is often compared to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Since 2000, statistics among post-abortive women have been published by a great variety of organizations:
144% - More likely to abuse another child; 80% - Feelings of self-loathing, loss of self-esteem; 70% - Romantic relationship ends after abortion; 60% - Drug and alcohol abuse (only 10% stating they used before); 45% - Repeat abortions; 36-50% - Ongoing anxiety, guilt, difficulty sleeping, nightmares; 25-28% - More likely to visit psychiatrists or attempt suicide; 23% - Pelvic Inflammatory Disease; Plus inability to form subsequent loving relationships, Eating Disorders and difficulty conceiving (post-abortive women lose 100,000 later pregnancies per year) (11).

See Arguments 6-10 in Part 2. (Since Part 1 will be published before a URL link is available for Part 2, go to my list of articles here, check under same date).

FOOTNOTES:
(A few quotes are cited through faith-based media because many "mainstream" news outlets refuse to archive information that goes against their own pro-choice viewpoint.This doesn't make the information any less true.)

1 - Dr. Bernard Nathanson, Aborting America, Pinnacle Books, 1981, as quoted by Trudy Hutchens, "Are Women Better Off After Roe?", Family Voice Magazine, Washington D.C., Concerned Women for America, January 1996, p. 6.
2 - (a) Centers for Disease Control, Abortion Surveillance, 1998, June 7, 2002, Vol. 51, No. SS03; p. 1, http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss5103a1.htm, retrieved 3/24/09.
(b) Centers for Disease Control, Abortion Surveillance, 2000, November 28, 2003, Vol. 52, No. SS12; pp. 1-32, http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss5212a1.htm, retrieved 3/24/09.
3 - Carol Everett with Jack Shaw, Blood Money, Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah Press Books, Questar Publishing, c. 1992. Back cover quote.
4 - The Elliott Institute, Post Abortion Review paper, PO Box 7348, Springfield, IL 62791-7348. "Additional material is posted at www.afterabortion.org."
5 - RU-486 documentation of complications released by FDA under the provisions of 5 U.S.C. § 552, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Posted at Life Issues Institute, Cincinnati OH: "RU-486 has Killed Twelve Women", http://www.lifeissues.org/ru486/deaths.htm, retrieved 5/06.
6 - The Alan Guttmacher Institute, steadily reporting only 1-1.5% of abortions from rape and incest, New York and Washington D.C., www.agi-usa.org.
7 - Ibid no. 6, latest statistics, July 2005: http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/psrh/full/3711005.pdf, retrieved 11/30/07. Minnesota State University, retrieved 2/16/2006:
http://www.mnstate.edu/gracyk/courses/phil%20115/Stats_on_abortion.htm.
8 - Centers for Disease Control, Abortion Surveillance, June 2002, Vol. 51, No. SS03, Table 6. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss5103a1.htm#tab6, retrieved 3/24/09.
9 - David Stout, "An Abortion Rights Advocate Says He Lied", New York Times, February 26, 1997, p A11.
10 - Drs. Romer, Smith, Cook and DeCook, "Partial Birth Abortion is Bad Medicine," New York NY: Wall Street Journal, Sept. 19, 1996. Portions of this article are found in the Official Record, U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee, March 7, 2003.
11 - Post Abortive Syndrome complications gathered from:
- National Office of Post-Abortion Reconciliation and Healing, Inc., Milwaukee, WI., 1-800-5WE-CARE., or see http://www.noparh.org;
- Dr. Theresa Burke with Dr. David Reardon, The Unspoken Pain of Abortion, Battle Creek, MI: Acorn Books, 2002;
- Ibid no. 10, with facts from Elliott Institute - Study of Post-Abortive Women, 2001;
- Abortion & Increased Risk of Child Abuse: Child Maltreatment and Perinatal Loss, Acta Pædiatrica, 2005; as found at Physicians for Life: http://www.physiciansforlife.org/content/view/862/26/, retrieved 11/30/07;
-Alan Guttmacher Institute - http://www.guttmacher.org/.

Other Resources:
Holly Patterson death by RU486: "Pregnant teen's death under investigation - East Bay woman had taken RU-486, according to father", Julian Guthrie, SF Gate.com, Chronicle Staff Writer, 9/19/03, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/09/19/BA258408.DTL&type=printable, retrieved 3/26/09.

More non-religious info, from a feminist organization: www.feministsforlife.org.