Cristian Castillo
Period 5
Abortion
Abortion should not be permitted. What abortion is, it pretty much terminates the pregnancy. Many women are not prepared for a baby and see this as an exit. Although one can be sympathetic when a woman becomes pregnant unexpectedly, having an abortion is not the right answer. This procedure was legalized in the 1973 Supreme
Court cases of Roe vs. Wade, and Doe vs. Boston. On average 4,000 babies are killed by abortions each day, which comes out to about 1.4 million babies a year (Bilmore,1).
In this paper, it will be proven that abortions are unethical procedures that should be outlawed by discussing the actual procedure, facts and numbers of the abortions, and the alternatives and preventions.
Many people are not completely aware of what is actually involved when having an abortion. In a first trimester abortion, the woman must go to a special clinic for the abortion. The doctor then does a thorough examination on the woman to see how far along the pregnancy is. Then, the woman is put under a form of anesthesia and an instrument called the dilator dilates the cervix. A cannula, which is attached to a suctioning machine is moved around the uterus which removes the fetal tissue and uterine lining. When a woman is in the second trimester of pregnancy, the abortion procedure is basically the same as the first trimester abortion. The only difference is the cervix must be dilated more which is known as a Dilation and Curettage. Between 16­24 weeks, the procedure is more severe and painstaking. A saline or prostaglandin

abortion is performed. A hollow needle is inserted through the abdominal wall, and some of the abdominal fluid is withdrawn. This causes labor and the woman is given pitocin to begin the contractions, which will continue until the fetus and placenta are out of the vagina. After the abortion has been performed the woman will experience cramps, drowsiness, and a heavy feeling of nausea. With repeated abortions the cervix may become too stretched. If the woman eventually wants to keep a child in the future, it may result in a miscarriage or premature birth because of how stretched the cervix has become. Not only is the abortion painful and has bad after effects, the procedure is very costly. To have an abortion performed in a clinic the cost can be anywhere from
$300­$1000, depending on the trimester the woman is in when the abortion takes place
(Witt, 25). When people learn exactly what occurs during an abortion, the after effects, and the cost, many become discouraged to have an abortion.

Many arguments exist concerning the issue of abortions remaining legal, but they are easily proven to be false. A main argument that many pro­choice activists pose is this: why should mothers give birth to babies when they are raped or if the pregnancy causes health problem? The try to focus on this issue, but the fact is that only 1% of all abortions are performed on rape or incest victims; 1% for fetal abnormalities; and 3% because of mothers health problems. Abortions should not remain legal simply for this small percent of babies who are conceived with these circumstances (Urishko,1). The most popular argument for keeping abortions legal is that an abortion is not really killing the baby because the baby is not really alive. This is not true. Eighteen days after conception, the babies heart is beating; at six weeks, brain waves can be measured; at

eight weeks, the stomach, liver, kidneys, and brain are operative, and fingerprints have formed; and at nine weeks, the child is able to feel pain. It most definitely cant be said that the baby is not alive. Its heart is beating; organs are functioning, and most of all it can feel the pain of the procedure being performed. Federal law states that anyone who kills, damages, or transports a bald eagle, or nest is subject to up to a $5,000.00 fine or imprisonment for up to one year, or both. But