Abortion - Why Must We Kill?

Section #53

December 2, 2004

Why Must We Kill?

From the years 1981-2001, 467,910 people died due to AIDS ("Cumulative AIDS"). In comparison, in the year 2000 alone, 857,000 babies were killed (Robinson). More babies are killed in one year from abortions alone than all of the AIDS cases combined in the past twenty years. So why are people fighting to keep abortions legal? In this upcoming election, we have two choices. President Bush is the pro-life presidential candidate. Bush says abortions should be banned except in the cases of rape, incest or when the mother's life is in danger. He says that he is personally against all forms of abortion but does not think that the country is ready for a constitutional amendment banning all abortions. John Kerry is the pro-choice presidential candidate. He believes that woman should have the right to choose if they want an abortion or not and that the government should not interfere. After reviewing both sides you will see that because of the questionable ethical, detrimental psychological, and physical effects that an abortion has on a woman there will be no doubt in your mind what the right thing to do is.

According to Webster's Dictionary, abortion is "the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus; especially: the medical procedure of inducing expulsion of a human fetus to terminate a pregnancy" ("Abortion"). The problem with that definition is at what point do you say that a fetus in a woman's womb is actually a baby or person. Is a fetus a human being when their heart begins to beat 18-25 days after conception? Or is it, a fetus is not a human being until there is brain waves after the 40th day of the pregnancy. Some say that the fetus is not a baby until it can survive outside of the mother's womb, which is at 20 weeks (Abortionfacts.com). The lines blur as to where life starts.

As a result of not knowing when a fetus actually becomes a human being, the Supreme Court stepped in. On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court of the United States of America made a monumental decision. In the case of Roe vs. Wade, the Supreme Court ruled that Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution provided the fundamental right for women to get an abortion. The Supreme Court said that the "right to privacy" gave the woman the right to abort the fetus or baby up until the third trimester (about 7 months after conception until delivery) unless the state had a "compelling interest" in stopping the abortion.

Although the Supreme Court ruled in favor of abortion, President Bush is adamantly against abortion. He says, "I've set the goal that every child born and unborn ought to be protected. But I recognize [that many] people don't necessarily agree with the goal. People appreciate somebody who sets a tone, a tone that values life, but recognizes that people disagree" ("Issues: Abortion"). Bush signed a partial birth abortion ban in November of 2003 while in office. He also wants to have parental notification when minors seek an abortion. In addition, Bush wants to keep taxpayers money from going towards abortion.

On the contrary, John Kerry is adamantly pro-choice. According to Planned Parenthood, Kerry has a "100% voting record when it comes to voting on issues that involve abortion" ("Issues: Abortion"). Kerry has voted pro-choice time in and time out. John Kerry staunchly resists any ban on abortion, even partial birth abortion where the baby has passed through the birth canal and killed. He also has said that he personally is opposed to abortion, but he cannot have his religious views affect his decision making if he were to be in office.

In short, Roe vs. Wade has had an enormous impact on our society as a whole. It might be hard to see the effects it is having on us because we are so involved in our daily lives that we hardly ever take a closer look at what is going on around us. We cannot get the spider web out of our eyes to see what abortion is doing to us. There are a few reasons how this is happening.

Some people do not see a fetus as a baby. It could be that they are not educated enough or they are scared and do not know what to do. They may look at the fetus just as a ball of tissue or maybe even see it as a human, but if that woman is too scared to have the baby, then what does she do? There are many groups out there that can help women who are in these types of situations. Catholic Social Services is one group. They offer programs like Project Rachael that reach out to women who are contemplating an abortion. Groups like these can give counseling to women and can help them find ways out of the situation they are in other than abortion. Adoption agencies also offer another alternative to having an abortion. There are hundreds if not thousands of families waiting to adopt and love a little baby. So there are many different sources that women who are thinking about having an abortion can go to to get help or counseling.

However, there are some women out there that do not believe a fetus is a human at all until it is out of the womb. With this definition of life, it is hard to explain to some women that a baby is a real human being and deserves a chance to live. When you look at the fetus like this, how can there be anything wrong with having an abortion? You are not killing anything, just terminating a ball of tissue according to a few women. The baby also has to be viable (can survive outside of the mothers womb on its own) for it to be considered a person. According to the Fourteenth Amendment, a mother gives birth to a fetus, not a baby. That fetus does not officially become a person until a doctor says that fetus is viable.

How should the government be allowed to say when a fetus becomes a baby? That baby will have a beating heart within 18-25 days and brain waves will start functioning at 40 days (Abortionfacts.com). The government says that the fetus must be able to survive on its own or else it is not a person and does not have rights ("Issues: Abortion"). Many tiny babies cannot survive on their own. When do we draw the line at when a fetus truly becomes a baby if we go by the government's definition? Would it be alright to wait till a baby was born to see if it had any type of disease or deformity on it and if it did we would just let it die? Once we are on the edge of the slope, it will not be long before we start sliding down it. It just does not make sense to go by what the government or constitution says. Life begins from the moment that baby is conceived.

The fact is a baby is a