The Facts
1.3 million abortions are performed in the US each year
More than 40% of all women will end a prangnacy by abortion at some time in their life
Aprox. 88% of abortions are performed in the 1st trimester (3months).
59% take place withing first 8 weeks of pregnancy
In average, women who are 24 years or younger, make up about 52% of abortions.
42 million abortions are performed every year world wide
ABORTION KILLS MORE people every 2 months THAN THE HOLOCAUST did in 12 years
Abortion
Types of abortion
Medical Abortion:
- Most common in trimesters of pregnancy
- Are 98% effective up to a week
Surgical Abortions:
(cc) photo by Metro Centric on Flickr
- In the first 15 weeks a vacume abortion abortion is most commonly used
- Vacume abortion removes the fetus by suction
- From 15-26 weeks other techniques must be used
What is
Abortion?
What if her life, was in your hands?
Current laws surrounding abortion
- To kill a child before he or she is born
- abortion is an act of violence against the unborn child as well as the woman about to have a baby, apart from being a moral crime in itself.
- Abortion punishes the unborn child who committed no crime
- one of the most common medical procedures proformed in the world
In many countries across the world, including Canada, it is legal to have an abortion at any stage of pregnancy. The majority of countries however, have laws that either fully criminalise abortion unless it is fatal for the mother to continue the pregnancy or only allow abortion before a certain point in the pregnancy, such as first trimester or second trimester.
Until 1969, abortion was illegal in Canada. In that year, the Canadian Parliament passed a law allowing abortion in certain circumstances in which the woman’s ‘health’ was an issue. The ‘health’ of the woman was not properly specified or limited though, so then a bill was introduced which permitted abortions where the health of the woman was deemed at risk through the justification of a therapeutic abortion committee which included three doctors. At this point in time, abortions were only to be performed in accredited hospitals by licensed physicians. Over time, the laws in Canada restricting abortion have been eased and now women can terminate their pregnancy at any point before birth. Most abortions in Canada are funded by taxpayers through the health system, Medicare. In today’s society, there are more than 105 000 abortions performed in Canada every year. Canada is also one of the very few countries in the Western world that does not have any restrictions on abortion. In the foreseeable future, a law against abortion is unlikely, with polls saying that the majority of Canadians believe that abortion should be legal at any point in a pregnancy, for any reason.
What would
you
do...
...If
you
were a
doctor?
Even though most doctors are for abortion, there are some who are against it for the following reasons:
- Some are against abortion and don't perform it because of their religion. They belive that the fetus growing inside the mother's womb is a creation from God and is a human being. Having or performing the act of abortion would mean killing the baby and taking away their life. Many refuse to do it even if it means losing their job.
- They believe that it the women don't want the responsibility of bringing up the child, then they shouldn't kill him or her but choose adoption so that the child can be placed in a loving family.
Most doctors are for abortion because
- they don't think that the fetus is a human being, they think that it is just a blob of tissue.
- Some doctors and nurses are forced to perform abortions
- Some don't want the pregnancy to threaten the women's health.
- They think that it would be hard for the parents to take care and bring up a child if he or she has a deformity
Does Abortion Support Human Dignity?
Thought-provoking questions:
Abortion does not support human dignity because human life begins from the very moment of conception. The Catholic Church believes that the unborn has the same moral status and dignity as an adult, therefore killing the unborn would be no different then killing an adult. This means that killing the human life, anywhere after conception through it’s fetal development, is an act that can not be justified.
Is Abortion Murder?
Is a fetus really a human?
Can Abortion ever be justified?
Who Could kill their own child and ever reach internal peace?
Future trends on this issue will probably become increasingly more popular and accept in society, especially with the way society is going. Laws recently have been passed in the States to Legalize Euthanasia and assisted suicide, and the same laws are now trying to be passed in Canada and even right here in Vancouver. In our opinion, if society has no problem killing an adult human life, they will defiantly have no problem killing the unborn, especially because they are unseen. Even though, God has said “blessed are those who believe, yet have not seen”, unfortunately in our society today when something is invisible or unseen we don’t really pay attention to it or even care about it.
What are the Future
Trends of Abortion?
Does Abortion Promote the Best Interest of the community?
This is a controversial issue, because some will say that abortion it’s the best interest of our society because an unwanted baby is an unjust burden on society, or that its unfair for the child to be a burden on its family and cause suffering. In our opinion abortion isn’t promoting the best interest of our society because doctors often tell mothers that abortion is the solution to family, economic, social difficulties or even the health of their children. Abortion isn’t the answer to any of these problems, and often leaves the mother suffering the loss of her child in silence. These women are a part of our society in staggering numbers. Also, tax payers end up, in many cases, paying for these abortions or at least the therapy most women require after having an abortion.
...If you
were a
teen
mother?
IN OUR OPINION...
Many teen mothers approve of abortion for countless reasons
•Some women think that the pain they are going to go through at the moment of labour is not worth it. It is their body that goes through all the stress of pregnancy.
•More than half the percentage of women who choose abortion are below the age of 25 and do it because they are afraid of the responsibility of bringing the child up and parenting it well. Many teen mothers are divorced, so they will not receive any help from their partner. So they are going to have to take care of the child by themselves in addition to other obligations they have to do in their daily routine. They say it would be extremely difficult if not impossible.
•Some choose abortion because in their country, it is not illegal such as in Australia, Canada, Germany, United States and as many as 30 others, there are laws that make abortion legal, at any point of time till birth.
•Around 60% of abortions are performed on “never married” women. Many take a step forward in their relationship and don’t think of the consequences that might occur – getting pregnant and then, they don’t want the responsibility of taking care of the child and just abort.
•Some women abort because many people do it.
•Many choose abortion because a forced childbirth could be equally or even more traumatic as choosing abortion.
•Several women choosing abortion feel that they have the freedom to decide their own course of life with respect and support from the others. They feel that they have the freedom to decide whether they want to continue or terminate their pregnancy.
•Some women choose abortion because they believe that life begins at the moment of conception. They believe that if they abort while the baby is still inside their womb (most of them do it in the first trimester while the fetus cannot live independent of the mother), then they are not killing anybody.
•Most women who choose abortion are teenager because they can have serious complications if the pregnancy is continued. A teen is neither mentally nor physically ready to continue a pregnancy, they aren’t ready to handle the responsibilities of a child. They would have to drop out of school and get a job in order to be able to raise the child, many don’t want to do that and just choose abortion as a solution.
•Women take mroning after pills etc. to “prevent” getting pregnant when they don’t realize that they are actually terminating the pregnancy.
•One of the main causes of abortions are rape and incest. Forcing her to bear the added responsibility of the child she conceived through the unfortunate act would only add to her mental stress.
•Summarizing all this, the main reasons for abortion are the following
- It’s not a human being/human, it’s just a blob of tissue, life begins at brith
- A woman has the right to control her own body
- If a child is unwanted, why should it be here?
- Abortion is safer than childbirth and is painless
- What if the child has a deformity?
- Rape, Incest, Fetal Abnormality
- Overpopulation
- People think that Down’s syndrome and Rubella is a valid reason for abortion
Even though most teen mothers choose abortion, many are against it and would never even consider it as a possibility for their child for several reasons.
• First of all, people ask themselves the question: Should a person be so irresponsible to land up in a situation where they have to be merciless to the unborn? Some teen mothers that are against abortion consider that a growing embryo is human with the heartbeats initiating as early as 21st day of conception. They say that even if we cannot see the human form, they have the potential to gain one and are still humans.
• Many believe that choosing adoption as an alternative to abortion would give the baby its right to life.
• Many don’t choose abortion because infection, sepsis, recurrent miscarriages and rarely death could be the complications of abortions or/and because they can cause serious psychological impairment to the woman in the form of depression and guilt. Also, because it can cause blocked fallopian tubes and damage to the woman's reproductive system which may make her unable to conceive in the future.
• Many are worried that if they do go for abortion, they increase their possibility of having breast, uterine and cervical cancer.
• Abortion is strongly criticized by those with strong religious beliefs as they believe that life is a blessing from God. They believe that life begins at conception itself. So abortion is a sin, a murder, a moral crime. They strongly believe that children are a gift of god, and the parents are just the people who take care of them, God's gift.
• Certain teen mothers that don’t know what to do with their child while conception, listen to pro-life advocates which say that even if the conception is the result of unplanned pregnancy, rape or incest, aborting the embryo is equivalent to punishing the unborn child for no fault of his, which is not right.
• Most teen mothers’ reason for anti-abortion the argument so put forward against capital punishment - what right do humans have to curtail the life of something that providence has created? No civilized society permits one human to intentionally harm or take the life of another human without punishment, and they believe that abortion is no different.
• Also, they know that after abortion many have lifelong regrets afterwards because the woman who has lost her child, at any time between the pregnancy, will never be the same. So, many teen mothers think about the mental and emotional state of the entire family, it is the entire family who loses a part of their mind and body forever.
We disagree with abortion, because at the moment of conception the babies individual DNA is formed and it is set weather they are a boy or girl. By the 4th week of any pregnancy the babies heart has started to bet and he or she has developed its nervous system; meaning that they now have the foundation for thoughts, senses and feelings. Almost all abortions happen after this point of a pregnancy. In our opinion this baby has already formed everything that makes it a true person, and we as humans have no right to take any life, no matter how small.
What's our opinion on the issue?
The Catholic Church's position
Developing a Moral
Conscience?
After learning more about abortion we can develop a moral conscience because we are know more educated on the truth of abortion. We can no longer say, “We didn’t know” or “nobody told me”. But we are asked to instead look into our hearts and decided what each of us believes is morally right or wrong . Our conscience will grow and become more informed as we get older, but God calls us all, even as teens, to make loving and good choices and to try our best to avoid evil. Therefore, we can develop our conscience by, God willing, if any of us our faced with the decision of abortion, making the right choice even if the struggle has come from a wrong one.
**2270 Human lives must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception**
Since the first century, the Catholic Church has condemned the act of a procured abortion as a moral evil and in 1995, Pope John Paul ll declared that the Catholic Church's opinions and teachings on abortion "is unchanged and unchangeable. Therefore, by the authority which Christ conferred upon Peter and his successors... I declare that direct abortion, that is, abortion willed as an end or as a means, always constitutes a grave moral disorder, since it is the deliberate killing of an innocent human being. This doctrine is based upon the natural law and upon the written word of God, is transmitted by the Church’s tradition and taught by the ordinary and universal magisterium. No circumstance, no purpose, no law whatsoever can ever make licit an act which is intrinsically illicit, since it is contrary to the law of God which is written in every human heart, knowable by reason itself, and proclaimed by the Church" (Evangelium Vitae 62).
- To abort a child is going against the Catholic Church’s moral laws of‘: