The Abortion Debate

I am constantly amazed at what people will believe when fed by the media. I've been having the abortion debate with a friend and his lack of knowledge about the actual abortion procedure and the excuses given by abortionists for doing it have rendered me speechless (at least verbally!). Less than 1/10th of 1 percent of pregnancies require the mother to terminate the pregnancy or risk her life. If that decision has to be made and one or both will lose their life, then that is obviously the exception to the rule. I think what irks me most is that abortionists and pro-life activists try to make us believe that there are medical reasons for most abortions, when that is not the case. Tell it like it is, people! Just be real about it. My friend asked me, "What about late term abortion when the mother's life is at stake?". If that is the case, there is no need for an abortion. Birth can be induced or a C-section done and the baby delivered. There is no need to parent if that is the issue. Adoptive families abound.

There is a book I would encourage everyone to read. It's called "Gianna", by Jessica Shaver with an afterward by Gianna Jessen. Gianna is adopted. She was adopted by her foster family after coming into the world in a very traumatic way. Gianna's biological mother went into an abortion clinic to get an abortion. Apparently the clinic was so focused on the profit to be made, they neglected to adequately determine gestational dates. At that time, saline abortions were all the rage. Saline was injected into the mother's uterus and she was sent home to wait for the baby to die, so she could come back and they could deliver it. When she came back to the clinic in labor, the baby was delivered. There was one small problem. The baby didn't die. Gianna was born screaming and she was burned, head to toe, by the saline. They put her off to the side and waited for her to die. She didn't die. After a while, the physician realized that this baby was not going to die. So, she was taken to a hospital. Gianna recovered. She is an aborted baby who lived to tell about it. I wonder how many others got to that point and were smothered or drowned to get rid of the evidence of life.

As a result of the injuries she sustained in this failed abortion, Gianna has cerebral palsy. She is intelligent and lives a full life, which is impacted by the physical effects of her cerebral palsy -- cerebral palsy caused by people. Even with her disability, she was adoptable. She is loved. Everyone in the room when she was born expected she'd be dead. Her will to live and her purpose in life (perhaps to bear witness to the injustice of what is being done)was undaunted by those who would have killed her.

Late term abortion is never necessary. It may be necessary to deliver the child, but a c-section or induction would give them a fighting chance at life! If the mother's life is in danger, then by all means they should try to save her. But don't use the mother's life as an excuse in every abortion. If I sound angry, I am. Our society as a whole can't be honest. Call a spade a spade. Tell the truth. Put everyone on an even playing field. If you are calling those who don't believe in carte blanche abortion "pro-life", then why is the opposite not "pro-death"? We all know the answer to that. "Pro-choice" is a deceptive term. Whose "choice" would that be? Certainly not the choice of the child. Not the choice of all those potential adoptive parents out there who are waiting for a child. Not the choice of those who value life. But there is much protest if you label it what it really is.

I don't want to sound preachy or come off like a foot-stomping activist, but if the pen is, indeed, mightier than the sword, then I'm taking up arms. I would challenge those who believe that abortion is a "right" to actually witness one. Most would refuse because they don't want to know. They don't want to see the "medical waste", the blood and dismembered babies thrown in the trash. There is a movie from the 70's called "Silent Scream" that takes a camera inside a uterus while an abortion is being performed. It's a true horror movie. Most people would defend the rights of animals being hurt before they would defend the rights of unborn humans. I really don't understand it. If we want others to value life, don't we have to value it? How can we condemn suicide bombers, when we kill our own children? If we will kill an innocent baby who hasn't yet had the chance to begin a life, how will we treat those who are at the end of life and are no longer productive? When does the madness end? If we respect life, we can't put some sort of limitations on when life begins and when life is over. Who is qualified to do that? Even in the absence of religion, physicians will tell you that upon conception, there is a living organism which will eventually walk and talk and be called a human being. The ones who disagree tend to be the same ones who are benefiting financially from abortions. They may say they are "providing a service" to women. In fact, they are providing a disservice. A hit man can "provide a service". Does that make it acceptable?

I realize my opinion may offend some, and I apologize for that. I spent a few years in labor and delivery and in both post-abortion and neo-natal bereavement counseling. If a woman loses a wanted child through a miscarriage or fetal demise, she grieves a life lost. If a pregnancy was unwanted and abortion performed, does that mean that child wasn't a life lost? In China, for many years and still in some places, when a female child is born alive, she is placed face down in a bucket of water to drown or smothered, as males are preferred. When Americans hear that, they are appalled. Why? Many of those same Americans are supportive of the right to extinguish the life of that same baby just a few weeks earlier. I'm not sure whether drowning or dismemberment is worse. Can anyone tell me?