Abortion, to Be or Not to Be

"An abortion is the removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the uterus, resulting in or caused by its death. This can occur spontaneously as a miscarriage, or be artificially induced by chemical, surgical or other means. Commonly, "abortion" refers to an induced procedure at any point during human pregnancy; medically, it is defined as miscarriage or induced termination before twenty weeks' gestation, which is considered nonviable. Throughout history, abortion has been induced by various methods. The moral and legal aspects of abortion are subject to intense debate in many parts of the world." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion)

In the UNITED STATES:

"Number of abortions per year: 1.37 Million (1996)
Number of abortions per day: Approximately 3,700

Who's having abortions (age)?
52% of women obtaining abortions in the U.S. are younger than 25: Women aged 20-24 obtain 32% of all abortions; Teenagers obtain 20% and girls under 15 account for 1.2%.

Who's having abortions (race)?
While white women obtain 60% of all abortions, their abortion rate is well below that of minority women. Black women are more than 3 times as likely as white women to have an abortion, and Hispanic women are roughly 2 times as likely.

Who's having abortions (marital status)?
64.4% of all abortions are performed on never-married women; Married women account for 18.4% of all abortions and divorced women obtain 9.4%.

Who's having abortions (religion)?
Women identifying themselves as Protestants obtain 37.4% of all abortions in the U.S.; Catholic women account for 31.3%, Jewish women account for 1.3%, and women with no religious affiliation obtain 23.7% of all abortions. 18% of all abortions are performed on women who identify themselves as "Born-again/Evangelical".

Who's having abortions (income)?
Women with family incomes less than $15,000 obtain 28.7% of all abortions; Women with family incomes between $15,000 and $29,999 obtain 19.5%; Women with family incomes between $30,000 and $59,999 obtain 38.0%; Women with family incomes over $60,000 obtain 13.8%.

Why women have abortions
1% of all abortions occur because of rape or incest; 6% of abortions occur because of potential health problems regarding either the mother or child, and 93% of all abortions occur for social reasons (i.e. the child is unwanted or inconvenient).

At what gestational ages are abortions performed:
52% of all abortions occur before the 9th week of pregnancy, 25% happen between the 9th & 10th week, 12% happen between the 11th and 12th week, 6% happen between the 13th & 15th week, 4% happen between the 16th & 20th week, and 1% of all abortions (16,450/yr.) happen after the 20th week of pregnancy.

Likelihood of abortion:
An estimated 43% of all women will have at least 1 abortion by the time they are 45 years old. 47% of all abortions are performed on women who have had at least one previous abortion.

Abortion coverage:
48% of all abortion facilities provide services after the 12th week of pregnancy. 9 in 10 managed care plans routinely cover abortion or provide limited coverage. About 14% of all abortions in the United States are paid for with public funds, virtually all of which are state funds. 16 states (CA, CT, HI, ED, IL, MA , MD, MD, MN, MT, NJ, NM, NY, OR, VT, WA and WV) pay for abortions for some poor women." (http://www.abortionno.org/Resources/fastfacts.html)

3700 abortions in America per day is a large number to have. In my book, Lost Society, I defined abortion as a process by which a woman medically murders her child. When a person has an abortion, she has decided that the life inside the womb is not worth coming into existence. The constitution states that all life has unalienable rights. The argument is a question asking, "When life is considered a life inside the womb?" It is proven unconstitutional to argue that a woman can do whatever with her body because her baby is an innocent life and must have a choice. So, the question goes back to, "when is the baby considered a living life?" With this, I would say that if you don't want children then don't have sex. Then there is the question of rape. However, I pose a question to you. If a person chains you to a weaker person, and your only way to be set free is to kill the weaker person, then is it right to kill the weaker person to be set free? Also, why not give the child to an adoption agency. People argue simple questions; however, the truth is not very complicated. There is no excuse for an abortion. "Wait, what about life for life?" Well then, which is more noble, sacrificing your life for your child or living to save your life and letting an innocent unborn child die? There is no excuse for an abortion. People say that abortion is an option for women because they have a right to do whatever they want with their baby.

Query "To abort or not to abort?"

People often argue about whether abortion is right or wrong. As a Christian, I can not take pro-abortion or pro-choice as viable standings for who I am. I will not take the neutral way out on this issue. Abortion is bad because women do feel pain inside (emotional), it hinders societal growth, there is no excuse, each person is fearfully and wonderfully made, the baby's rights are taken away, and it justifies murder. The first second that baby forms, it is a life unto itself, and people have the responsibility to fulfill their duties after their "night of fun."

I don't see why people complain and argue for abortion. It should not have ever been an option by the law. In fact, I think that it should be illegal. People want their night of fun, but they don't want to deal with the consequences. Well here is how you can avoid having to get an abortion. Step one: Don't have sex at all!!! Wait, that's the only step a person has to take. Okay let's look at some worldly steps. Step one, try to abstain from sex. Step two, use a diaphragm. Step three, use a condom. Step four, use the birth control pill. I like the earlier one step approach since that is what God wants. However, I list the alternative because we all make mistakes and my intent is to show the alternatives to abortion. If you fail all of the above, then you can give the baby to an adoption agency, or you can contact a Christian church for help with getting a parent for the baby, for it is better than murdering the baby before it is born. Why would a woman consider this option anyway; don't they understand the consequences physically and emotionally.

According to, "http://www.abortionfacts.com/effects/effects.asp", abortion has many negative effects on women. Women will first face PAS (Post-Abortion Stress) which is where they get depressed and feel a strong sadness. See "http://www.abortionfacts.com/online_books/love_them_both/why_cant_we_love_them_both_9.asp#What%20about%20psychological%20problems%20after%20abortion?" for more data. Breast cancer is theorized to be a possible physical effect to abortion according to "http://www.abortionfacts.com/online_books/love_them_both/why_cant_we_love_them_both_23.asp". This one is not definitively proven yet. Peritonitis is an inflamed, infected lining of the abdomen, and this can happen with bladder perforation. Your intestines, or bowels, can be injured. You have a high probability of having to get an ectopic, or tubal, pregnancy. If you have a problem that causes this situation and it is not discovered in time, then you could die. There are also other issues to look at too such as Effects on Future Pregnancies, Failed Abortion, Hemorrhage, Hepatitis, Infection, Laceration of the Cervix, More Miscarriages Later, Perforation of the Uterus, Placenta Previa, Retained Products of Conception, RH Incompatibility, Severe, Rapid Bleeding, Sterility, Unrecognized Ectopic Pregnancy, and complications for young women (this is serious because younger women tend to be the ones getting abortions. "http://www.abortionfacts.com/online_books/love_them_both/why_cant_we_love_them_both_21.asp" states that abortion is not safer than childbirth. In fact, child birth has very few deaths if any in undeveloped nations and abortion has a higher toll of death than child birth. In developed nations child birth is almost never a cause for death. Abortion deaths is often concealed, "These have been grossly under-reported. The expose' on this is detailed in Lime 5 published by Life Dynamics. The author and his staff have verified 23 deaths from induced abortion in 1992-93. All were reported to state agencies. There is documentation from state health departments that 18 were reported to the Federal Center for Disease Control. However, the official report of the CDC listed only 2 deaths. 'At Life Dynamics we knew abortion complications were grotesquely under-reported, but attributed it to garden-variety bureaucratic incompetence.' But after continuing research, they documented 'that the flawed abortion data from the CDC was not from ineptitude but of dishonesty and manipulation' after finding that 'a large percentage of CDC employees had direct ties to the abortion industry,' they retitled the CDC to stand for 'Center for Damage Control' - 'The CDC doesn't oversee abortion, it justifies it.' M. Crutcher, Lime 5-Exploited by Choice, Genesis Pub., Chapter 4, 'Cooking the Books,' p. 135." As quoted from abortionfacts.com. (http://www.abortionfacts.com/online_books/love_them_both/why_cant_we_love_them_both_21.asp#What%20is%20the%20maternal%20mortality%20from%20childbirth?) There are so many negative effects, so why would any reasonable woman want to get an abortion? Going over how it hinders societal growth would be too redundant of the above information. The only thing to really add is that it also stops the baby that was aborted from coming into the world too. Is there any excuse?

What if a woman was raped? First you must realize that pregnancy from the case of rape is extremely rare. However, I have not addressed this subject in any of my writings when approaching the subject of rape. To legalize abortion for this reason would justify an abortion for convenience and so many other things because it opens the flood gates a little and pro-abortionists will seek that leak to make it bigger and more exposed. A woman can have all of the semen removed from her uterus immediately after her rape which would eliminate the possible chance of pregnancy. The baby is an innocent victim and not the aggressor. In this case, two innocent people are chained together, and I wrote the analogy in my book Lost Society. The baby is a human, and the question is to be weighed with the rights of both innocent victims that are human. For more information, visit "http://www.christiananswers.net/q-sum/q-life005.html". There aren't too many more excuses that are good morally speaking. Thus bringing us back to the moral point that every person is fearfully and wonderfully made.

Knowing that we are fearfully and wonderfully made means a lot. We have a purpose. Our children have their roles to play too. Exodus chapter 21 verses 22-23 demonstrate that a pregnant woman's baby is considered a life. Deuteronomy chapter 25 verses 11-12 shows that even a man's private parts are considered important. This backs the definition of life up a whole lot. Perhaps life begins when the baby is still in the man's semen before it gets to the woman. This would mean that all life is meant to be by God. We are made for the glory of God as exceptional achievements. We are God's workmanship, poetry, or signature which ever speaks volumes to your understanding. The Bible uses all three to explain what we are. God has a purpose for us all, and if we swipe away our child's purpose then we will open up the chance for another person's child. Case in point, people complain about illegal immigration, but if we had a bigger population, there would not be open slots for illegal immigrants to get jobs. Don't say anything about this being untrue because just in on or one year, as mentioned above, we have lost 1.37 million people in 1996. "Even that figure is incomplete. As AGI itself admits, it is not able to tally all abortions. If one factors in the additional 3% of abortions AGI says may be missed due to underreporting, the total figure since 1973 rises to 39,290,477," as stated by one website. (http://www.nrlc.org/news/2000/NRL02/how.html) If the baby is another life, then it has rights. If we can justify taking another life for convenience, career, success, and just because, then why not legalize murder? This is where we are headed if we legalize abortion.

Who wants to be responsible for abortion? This path is a dangerous one. We need to avoid such a path. God has no joy in seeing an abortion and neither do the participating parties. Abortion simply negatively impacts society. It should also be classified as murder because morally it is murder.