Pro-Choice

What is choice?

The philosophy that women, and not the government, or politicians, should have the freedom to make responsible, deliberate, reproductive decisions.

Talking About Choice

What is abortion?

The deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy.

The Government

Abortion Saves Lives

Main reasons to allow a CHOICE for abortion

What happens when the choice is not accessible, women will go to unsafe practices.

• Swallowing large doses of drugs, such as anti-malarials or oral contraceptives.

• Drinking or flushing the vagina with caustic liquids such bleach.

Roe v. Wade 1973 confirmed that it was an invasion of privacy for the government to step in and make reproductive decisions on a woman's behalf.

• Insert a sharp object into the uterus.

• Physical abuse such as jumping or falling from high places, vigorous dancing, or sustained and vigorous sexual intercourse over long periods.

• Prolonged and hard massage to manipulate the uterus, or repeated blows to the stomach.

• Go to an uncertified "professional".

Statistics

Risk of complications

Number of abortions per 1,000 women aged 15-44, by year

Death and complication rates due to unsafe practices

% of women needing further medical care

Length of pregnancy

22 states have restrictions to prevent legal abortions to occur.

0- 49 days (0-7 weeks)

2 %

2.5%

40-63 days (7-9 weeks)

46 million abortions take place. 19 million are unsafe abortions occur each year. 68,000 of these women died directly due to the lack of professional medical observation.

64-70 days (9-10 weeks)

2.7%

71-77 days (10-11 weeks)

3.3%

Out of the 68,000 there are 2,040,000 women suffering from pain and disability due to unsafe abortions. This means that 1 in every 9 women suffer long term complications unnecessarily.

• "The risk of fatal sepsis in women undergoing medical abortion is very rare (approximately 1 in 100,000)" -FDA 2005

• 95-98% of women will have a successful medical abortion (less than 0.05%—risk of major complications that might not need hospital care.)

• Abortions performed in the first trimester pose virtually no long-term risk of such problems as infertility, ectopic pregnancy, spontaneous abortion (miscarriage) or birth defect, and little or no risk of preterm or low-birth-weight deliveries.

#1: Constitutional Right to have a CHOICE!

It was known doctors were using medical instruments to remove infected tissue and then using the same equipment to perform abortions.

#2: Mothers have legal consent.

#4: Life is perception, not a definition.

#3: The fetus does not feel pain

Medical Explanation: The fetus does not feel pain

• Some believe fetuses feel pain because 8 week-old fetuses already have some peripheral nerve endings that are connected to the spinal cord, allowing them to react to touch and other stimuli. However, this is a simple reflex response that has no conscious awareness associated with it, such as when your lower leg jerks up when your knee is tapped

#5: Abortion Saves Lives

Mothers have legal consent

• The thalamus acts as a switchboard—it receives input signals from the body and transmits them to various parts of the brain. Pain signals from the thalamus go to the cerebral cortex—the thinking and feeling part of the brain. A highly-developed cortex is required to perceive pain signals. Activity at the nerve endings, spinal cord, or thalamus is not enough. At 13 weeks gestation, the brainstem and thalamus are not functional.

Know the Law

Citations

What is this saying?

• The pregnant woman has a legal consent to terminate her pregnancy with reasons that pertain to her health.
• The fetus is considered a minor, and therefore is under the woman's consent.

• The myelin sheath—the insulating cover on nerve pathways that is required for efficient conduction of pain signals—does not begin forming around nervous system cells (neurons) in the spinal cord until about 24 weeks, and not till after birth in most of the cerebral cortex.

1. Any person who is eighteen years of age or older, or is the parent of a child or has married, may give effective consent for medical, dental, health and hospital services for himself or herself, and the consent of no other person shall be necessary.

2. Any person who has been married or who has borne a child may give effective consent for medical, dental, health and hospital services for his or her child.

3. Any person who is pregnant may give effective consent for medical, dental, health and hospital services relating to prenatal care.

4. Medical, dental, health and hospital services may be rendered to persons of any age without the consent of a parent or legal guardian when, in the physician's judgment an emergency exists and the person is in immediate need of medical attention and an attempt to secure consent would result in delay of treatment which would increase the risk to the person's life or health.

5. Anyone who acts in good faith based on the representation by a person that he is eligible to consent pursuant to the terms of this section shall be deemed to have received effective consent.

Comparison

A baby is born and the baby has a condition which renders it's life. The parents must make a medical decision with a medical professional how to act. The baby will not and can not decide on it's own!

Note: A fetus' well being depends on the woman which makes it a part of the woman.

Side note: If the woman is at a health risk due to the pregnancy, she has a right to protect herself.

http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2010091000&type=hitlist&num=1#.Us9wPp5dXdk

http://web.ebscohost.com/pov/detail?vid=3&sid=01567c18-2fd7-42f6-81f0-9dc2f66b78fd%40sessionmgr112&hid=114&bdata=JnNpdGU9cG92LWxpdmU%3d#db=pwh&AN=26607736

http://web.ebscohost.com/pov/detail?vid=4&sid=01567c18-2fd7-42f6-81f0-9dc2f66b78fd%40sessionmgr112&hid=114&bdata=JnNpdGU9cG92LWxpdmU%3d#db=pwh&AN=12415216

http://www.health.ny.gov/professionals/ems/policy/99-09.htm

https://www.womenonweb.org/en/page/561/is-a-medical-abortion-dangerous

http://www.prochoiceactionnetwork-canada.org/articles/fetal-pain.shtml

http://www.prb.org/pdf05/unsafeabortion.pdf

The argument of "life" is simply too complex to find a legitimate answer.

What is life?

The period between the birth and death of a living thing, especially a human being.

At fertilization there are only thousands of cells. It's very different to say that there is LIFE than that there is HUMAN life. A human is a body with eyes, heart, brain, skin etc. At conception there is no more than epithelial cells or liver cells. It is not clear at what stage of the fetus's development it becomes a human being. A human being is a person that can survive on its own. A fetus cannot do that. If we take out a fetus outside of the womb, it can't survive one second without the mother. On the other hand, a baby can! Human life starts when it can survive on its own.

By Elise Wolski