Ashley Prime
Professor Rebecca Morris
ENG 1010
14 October 2014
Abortion
FACT: An abortion is best performed within the first 9-12 weeks of the pregnancy. Do you know what happens within those 12 weeks? At 9 weeks, your baby is the size of a peanut and has started forming already. By 10 weeks, your baby looks exactly like a baby! The arms and legs are longer and bendable now. At 11 weeks, your baby develops his or her genitals, although the sex cannot be determined just yet. By 12 weeks, you are carrying a full baby who will only get bigger throughout the remainder of the pregnancy. The chances of having a miscarriage after 12 weeks are very slim at this point. The fact that your baby starts forming at 9 weeks, to me, it is considered murder to have it “aborted”.
A lot of women get pregnant by accident or by an unfortunate event such as rape. I understand they will not want to carry a product of rape, so they turn to abortion, but how will killing an innocent human make you feel better? There are several options to consider BEFORE abortion. The number ONE alternative for abortion is preventing unwanted pregnancy in the first place. Not engaging in unprotected sex will eliminate almost all unintended pregnancies. Of course, by the time most people look for abortion alternatives anyway, the time for prevention has passed. The “day after pill” is a helpful way for prevention as well. It is not considered abortion because it is not aborting a fetus, but delaying the conception process. This is a big difference!
The birthmother may give the child up for adoption if she does not want the child or is incapable of taking care of the child. Anti-abortionists can support adoption by making it a more appealing option. This means improving the adoption system and making sure that more children get adopted, and that they get adopted by good families. Other alternatives to abortion involve having the mother take care of her own child. These abortion alternatives can come in the form of a variety of preparations. These preparations involve offering the mother financial support or just personal support. Fewer women will get abortions if they have help raising their children. This can come in the form of helping them find housing or employment. One could even offer to babysit from time to time.
Sometimes the mother lacks a strong support system, so abortion may seem like the only other option for them. Whatever the reason for considering abortion, there is always an alternative option. I do not support abortion at all. It is wrong and inhuman. Are you aware of the risk? Do you know how they are performed? There are about six different ways to “abort” a baby. According to ProChoice.com, “Suction abortion, also called vacuum aspiration, is the most common abortion technique in use today. In this procedure a suction tube is inserted through the dilated cervix into the womb. A powerful vacuum tears the placenta from the uterus and dismembers the body of the developing child, sucking the pieces into an attached jar. There is a risk that the uterus can be punctured during the procedure. Also, the abortionist must take care that all the body parts are removed from the womb, as infection and hemorrhage can occur if fetal or placental tissue is left in the uterus.”
Other ways of abortion are D&C (dilation and curettage), D&E (dilation and evacuation), salt poisoning, hysterotomy, and prostaglandin. All of these involve ripping the baby out and dismembering the body. Salt poisoning and prostaglandin involve poisoning