Abortion Claims Answered
PrintBelow are common arguments advanced by those who support a woman’s right to have an abortion. But how valid are these arguments? See for yourself.
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Science is uncertain when life begins; therefore it must be a religious question.
ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA -"A new individual is created when the elements of a potent sperm merge with those of a fertile ovum, or egg."
The unborn is an embryo or fetus - not a baby. Abortion is terminating a pregnancy and is not actually killing a child.
Pro-choice people insist that the unborn is an "embryo." By definition, embryo means any living creature at an early stage of development. Further, they say it's not a baby; it's a "fetus." Fetus is a Latin word meaning "young one" or "little child."
Abortion providers are respected medical professionals working in the woman's best interest.
A former abortion clinic counselor says, "I was totally uninformed of available alternatives to abortion. I never recommended adoption or keeping the baby. I received no training in factual matters--my job was just to keep women happy and make sure they went through with an abortion."
Abortion is a safe medical procedure, safer than full term pregnancy and childbirth.
Researchers state, "Morbidity and mortality rates of legal abortion are several times higher than that for carrying a pregnancy to term. The immediate complication rate is no less than 10%, while long range complication rates show no less than 17%."
Abortion is an easy and painless procedure.
The various abortion procedures are often both difficult and painful for women. One abortion procedure, the D & C, involves the scraping of the uterus, which typically involves some bleeding and other side effects that some women find quite painful.
Unwanted children usually end up being battered and abused children later on in life.
A recent study showed 91% of the battered children surveyed were planned pregnancies and 90% were legitimate, according to Dr. Edward Lenoski, Professor of Pediatrics at U.S.C.
Child abuse has decreased since legalized abortion.
Since abortion's legalization in 1973, child abuse has increased fifteen hundred percent according to U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
Legally preventing a woman from having an abortion is an invasion of her privacy.
Our laws allow police to enter the privacy of people's homes to stop them from battering and abusing their children. Now the same force of law guarantees the "privacy and rights" of parents to dismember or poison their babies before birth.
Abortion relieves women of stress and responsibility and thereby enhances their psychological well-being.
Post-abortion therapy and support groups with members numbering over 30,000 testify to the reality of abortion's potentially harmful psychological effects. Women's World, September 1991, reports a study of women who have had abortions in which 45% said they had thoughts of suicide following their abortion.
What about a woman who's life is threatened by pregnancy or childbirth?
While he was United States Surgeon General, Dr. C. Everett Koop stated publicly that in his thirty-eight years as a pediatric surgeon, he was never aware of a single situation in which a pre-born child's life had to be taken in order to save the life of the mother.