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If People Really Knew the Truth About Abortion

March 25, 2009 by Standing on Truth  
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If people really knew the whole truth about abortion, how many of them would still support it?

Over forty million babies have been aborted since Roe v. Wade in 1973 and approximately 93% of those occured for social reasons (not medical problems, rape or incest)(http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/ASMF/asmf3.html).  It is estimated that 43% of all women will have an abortion (at least one) by 45 years of age (www.abortionno.org).  If what pro-lifers are saying is the truth, isn’t this abysmal and abhorrent infanticide on a mass scale enough to at least give us pause?  As a friend of mine said, this is a “modern day sacrifice of the most innocent of human beings to a god of comfort and convenience.” 

Those who are not in Christ are spiritually blinded to His Truth (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). I understand the spiritual side of the issue of abortion. But I also understand that there are medical and biological facts. And if we approach this issue logically, I have a difficult time understanding why people that know the facts through and through, still believe choosing abortion is a moral choice. 

What causes us to instinctively celebrate with friends and family when they announce that they are pregnant?  Is it because they are pregnant with a life? 

When Does Life Begin?:

The 30-year old question of when life begins is not a religious one, as pro-choice proponents would like to have you believe.  This question can be (and has been) addressed scientifically, and plenty of evidence has shown that life does begin at conception.  It just has not been fully accepted by those unwilling to see the truth.

“You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.  Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!  Your workmanship is marvelous–how well I know it.  You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.  You saw me before I was born.  Every day of my life was recorded in your book.  Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed” (Psalm 139:13-16).

Wikipedia says “life is a characteristic of organisms that exhibit certain biological processes such as chemical reactions or other events that results in a transformation.”  Time Magazine had a cover story in November of 2002 that addressed the issue of life at conception and detailed biologically what happens to an embryo from conception to birth.  This article states that cell division begins within hours of conception.  Is that life?  National Right to Life reports that a heart beat is formed somewhere close to 22 days after conception and brain waves at 40 days.  Is that life?  And yet, abortions usually are not performed until after those days. 

So is it biology that determines life?  We’ve just seen above how biologically there is life in the cell division, heart beat, and brain waves of an embryo.  Is life determined by viability outside the womb?  Babies outside the womb can die without caretakers and those on respirators are still filled with life.  That is not a valid argument.  What about size?  Is a child that is 5 years old more alive than one a couple of weeks old? Is it intellect?  Is it brain development?  Do you see the flimsiness of these arguments?

Why are Planned Parenthood and other pro-choice activists fighting the Ultrasound Bill, that would “require all expectant mothers considering abortion to be shown ultrasounds and hear the heartbeat of their developing child, which is almost non-existent in abortion clinics.”  Are they really interested in reducing abortions as they claim, because the simple act of viewing an ultrasound first has been shown to change 80% of women’s mind about abortion (http://www.freemarket.org/Img/November%202008%20Design.pdf).  Are they afraid of this bill because they are not really interested in reducing abortions?  That would then reduce the millions of dollars that are made each year from this “medical” industry.

Why was Scott Peterson, for example, convicted of two counts of murder when he killed his wife Laci and their unborn child, Conner?  The courts have recognized, in such cases, that an unborn child is a life for which we can seek justice.

Right to Choose:

Can we be honest for a minute?  What are pro-choice advocates really asking to choose?  If we establish that life does begin at conception, then aren’t they asking to be able to choose one life over another?  Their convenience over a defenseless baby?  Remember, according to statistics cited above, only 7% or less of all the millions of abortions are performed because of the life of the mother or rape and incest.  So let’s address the 93%.  Do we have a right to take that baby’s innocent life?  If we take a baby’s life after he or she is born, then we are put on trial in a court of law for murder.  But “it’s our body” women will say.  Do we have a right to “choose” our body over that baby’s body–a body with a heartbeat, brain functioning, fingernails, and the ability to feel pain, especially the pain of an abortion?  Do we have that right?

Unwanted/Unplanned Pregnancy:

What if the child is “unwanted” or the pregnancy “unplanned”?  According to the National Council for Adoption, “there are 450 married couples for each child waiting to be adopted, and millions of qualified singles who could foster parent or adopt as well.”  Given those statistics, there is no such thing as an unwanted child.  And to turn an unplanned pregnancy into the gift of a lifetime for a couple desperately wanting a child. . .what an incredibly selfless act that will bless others for years and years to come.  Many children secretly labeled unwanted or unplanned, or born into less than ideal circumstances, have gone on to become some of the world’s leading figures and incredible defy-the-odds success stories.

Some would ask if an unwanted child then becomes an abused child?  Statistics actually show the opposite.  Child abuse has been on the dramatic rise since abortion on demand became legal in 1973.  Could this have to do with a culture that devalues life and treats it as a disposable commodity?

The Procedures:

This is by far the most disturbing part of this whole debate, and I firmly believe that this is where the greatest myths and lies are perpetuated.  Not all women seeking abortions have ultrasounds beforehand.  Why is that?  We discussed the Ultrasound Bill earlier, but shouldn’t all women see the truth about what they are aborting before subjecting their baby (or themselves, for that matter) to this “procedure”?  Planned Parenthood, on their website, admits that an abortion may or may not be preceeded by an ultrasound (and I will not link to them for obvious reasons, but you can find the source if you so desire).  I wonder what lengths Planned Parenthood goes to discourage young, vulnerable women considering abortion from obtaining an ultrasound.

If people really knew the procedures for abortion, and had a chance to not only see their baby with an ultrasound, or see an abortion in progress, would humanity really sit by and advocate for this brutality?  Well, we have a chance to not be in the dark anymore.  If abortion providers and pro-choice advocates are not afraid to support these procedures (even though they are afraid of being honest with the public about them), let’s combat this by being bold enough to know them ourselves, and speak out against them.  Check out “The Silent Scream” on YouTube.  It is the video that many abortion providers do not want you to see.  (Warning:  This video is incredibly disturbing and many, if not most, of you will be unable to watch it all the way through).

Let’s begin with the most egregious and inhumane of all the abortion procedures, the partial-birth abortion.  This is for women beyond 20 weeks into their pregnancy, and sometimes much later.  Here is what a 20 week old baby looks like.  In this procedure, the doctor pulls the baby out by his or her legs until only the head remains inside the womb.  (If the head isn’t “born,” does this keep it from being called “murder” in their eyes?)  “Then the abortionist jams scissors into the back of the baby’s skull and spreads the tips of the scissors apart to enlarge the wound. After removing the scissors, a suction catheter is inserted into the skull and the baby’s brains are sucked out. The collapsed head is then removed from the uterus” (source).

Other procedures include:

  • Suction Aspiration–the baby is essentially cut into pieces and suctioned out with a vacuum; the patient is at risk for infection if all of the body parts and tissues are not removed properly.
  • Dilatation & Curettage–very similar to suction aspiration
  • RU 486–the abortion pill that starves the baby to death, causing the “embryonic baby to be expelled from the uterus.”
  • Dilatation & Evacuation–similar to the D&C except the baby is torn limb from limb and the hardened skull is sometimes crushed before removing.
  • Salt Poisoning (aka “Saline Amniocentesis”)–some of the baby’s amniotic fluid, allowing him or her to live and breathe, is replaced with a concentrated salt solution causing ”painful burning and deterioration of the baby’s skin” until the baby dies.

The Aftermath:

Despite what many would have you believe, there are side effects to abortion in many cases–physical and emotional.  Bleeding, hemorrhage, laceration of the cervix, and infection are among the most common physical complications, but there are also psychological complications such as guit and regret (nrlc).  Some studies show upwards of 50% of the women experience this guilt, as seen in the many sources below:

Now What?:

I have nothing but compassion for the majority of women who have had an abortion.  As stated earlier, I believe most of them are deceived, without the truth, and taken advantage of during a vulnerable time.  And knowing that many will feel guilt, regret, or experience significant physical complications from their abortion, I am not in favor of using our pro-life passion to condemn those already feeling the weight of their decision.  God is a God of forgiveness. . .it is not in His nature to deny anyone forgiveness when they seek it and it certainly isn’t in His nature to condemn those who are in Christ.  As Christians, we need to remember that this issue, although heated at times, involves children of God (both the babies at risk, the women who are choosing abortion, and even the doctors who provide and perform these abortions).  Our approach must always be loving, and never violent, no matter how passionate the protest. 

What we can do is speak up, stand on the Truth of God’s Word, and not be passive anymore.  Let’s be advocates for these precious children, let’s refuse to allow them to be “sacrificed to a god of convenience,” and let’s get this information out to as many people willing to listen.  Then, knowing that we have the power of the God of the universe behind us, let’s pray with fervency that the eyes of those who are blind will be opened and that one day soon we will see an end to these deaths. 

I’ll close with God’s Word on the matter, as well as links to ways that you can further educate yourself on abortion and then make your voice heard.

Support Pro-Life Groups–with your time, talents and treasures; groups such as the National Right to Life (http://www.nrlc.org); or volunteer with a local crisis pregnancy center–to find yours, click here.

Contact Your Elected Officials–let them know how important this issue is to you and your family, especially when there is legislation pending that threatens the right to life (such as now with President Obama).  Click here to locate state and local elected officials by zip code.

Get and Stay Informed–with credible websites such as http://www.abortionfacts.com/ and books such as  Why Pro-Life? or  Prolife Answers to Prochoice Arguments, both by Randy Alcorn.  He also has an excellent article on his webpage http://www.epm.org entitled, “Fifteen Pro-Life Truths to Speak.”

Encourage Your Church to Speak Up and Get Involved

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?  You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price.  So you must honor God with your body.”

Proverbs 31:8-9  “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed.  Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice.”

Proverbs 24:11-12 “Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to die; save them as they stagger to their death.  Don’t excuse yourself by saying, ‘Look, we didn’t know’.”

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    • I don't know why other people doing that sin.. Abortion is really a big sin, it's about killing your own child.. Many people are hoping for a child because they haven't given the opportunity to have a child, a child to love and to raise.. but their only hope is to adopt a child
    • Abortion. There's a conversation stopper. While I've always been pro-choice (as far as I can remember), I was never particularly concerned with it as my primary issue. Part of that was because I never really thought (nor do I think) that Roe will ever be overturned. See this post for why. But beyond that, I'm a man. When asked about the issue, my flippant response was that I have decided that I, personally, will never have an abortion. Not exactly a huge committment, given that I can't get pregnant. But it also reflected (and reflects) my conviction that it is a personal choice.

      Then I had to wrestle with this issue in my own life. My wife was pregnant. No, it wasn't unexpected. It was about as planned as it gets without using a fertility doctor, though thankfully, we did it the old fashioned way (much cheaper). Things were fine, until about six weeks in. Then she started to have some bleeding. Obviously, this is a great concern. We thought we lost the baby. So one trip to the emergency room later, we find out that no, the baby is fine. We even get an ultrasound, far earlier than you usually get one. There we can see this tiny creature with a tiny heartbeat. Unfortunately, the bleeding just continued, nonstop. For weeks. We were assured that this is common and that it would likely stop by week 10 or 11. Still, we weren't sure. And so we discussed possibly terminating the pregnancy, because it was very alarming for my wife, and also we didn't want to take this further only to find out it wasn't viable. Thankfully, we had such an option. We already had gone through the scare of wondering if we had already lost the baby.

      A week passes. She gets another ultrasound. Things still look fine, but the bleeding continued. Then it got worse. Another trip to the ER. Again, they tell her, it is fine, but they told us we should come in if she soaks more than one pad with blood in an hour. So now we have a benchmark. Fortunately, things get better. Another week passes, they do another ultrasound. Things look great. I'm amazed at how much the little bugger has grown just in a few weeks, more than doubling in size. We're getting close to 10 weeks. Hopefully then, we're told, the amniotic sack will be big enough to exert enough pressure to stem the blood loss.

      We were watching TV on the bed at home. Then she felt some pain. But she wasn't bleeding. She was cramping. It was very painful, but again, we checked, and there wasn't that much blood. So we did not go to the ER right then, they said one pad per hour. I called my sister, who suggested a hot bath to ease the cramp pain. And that did the trick. Then she started bleeding more. She panicked. She took off to the ER without even waiting for me to get dressed to go with her.
      By the time I've joined her there, she is bleeding enough to go through one pad every 10 minutes. Then every five minutes. Her blood pressure is steadily dropping. The machine shows the numbers in orange. Then they are both in red. But all the ER people can do is basically watch her bleed. They don't want to do anything more because of the baby. They do start to give strong painkillers to my wife, but they only help a little. So we go for another ultrasound in the ER. I expected the worse. From the looks on the faces of the people, I could tell things weren't looking good, but they did not want to say anything. And yet, again, the little bugger is holding on and actually is fine even as its mother is bleeding out. So back we go to the ER room.

      Now they want to see if she's dialated. I guess if she is, it is game over, but the ultrasound didn't show it and there's so much blood they simply can't see. Now the blood pressure numbers are even lower. I'm not a doctor, but I somehow don't think 60/40 is a good number to see on a blood pressure monitor, even for a moment. My wife is still awake, but a bit out of it from the drugs. They start pumping a transfusion into her, though it can't replace the blood at the rate she's going, or at least, it seems like that to me. We get a nice scare speech about the risks of transfusion. But its not like we can say no. She signs the consent form and they get in the first of two units of blood.

      Finally, the ER OB comes in and starts talking to us about the possibility of losing the baby some more. Fortunately, we have already discussed this and thought about it, having already thought we lost the baby two or three times over the past few weeks. Still, it isn't pleasant to think about it.

      Nothing is stopping the bleeding. There seems to be nothing they can do. They talk about trying some drugs, but then they decide things are going too fast to give time to let them work. So that leaves only surgery as a possibility. Surgery means hosing her out. It means killing the baby. So obviously, we look into other options. Only now, my wife is so out of it, from blood loss, from the painkillers, that the doctor said she is no longer able to legally consent. Now I'm handed a clipboard. On it is consent to basically give my wife an abortion and kill our future child. And it is all on me, my decision, mine alone. Something I never thought I'd ever face, ever have to deal with. Made worse by being a decision of either kill the baby or potentially watch both my wife and the baby die. The doctors did not say at this point that it was absolutely necessary. Maybe more blood could be transfused in. Maybe she wasn't dilated - they hadn't figured it out yet. Still too much blood. So then there I was, facing the sort of choice that you usually see only in hypotheticals in ethics and philosophy classes. Only it was real. It was my wife. And I didn't have exactly a lot of time to think about it. It was just me and the clipboard. An empty line there, marked for my signature. My wife bleeding right next to me. The ultrasound of my baby, and its heartbeat, fresh in my mind from minutes before. I cannot begin to describe how I felt at that moment. One cannot know until you are in it. I won't even try. I hope I never feel that way again.

      As fate would have it, soon after that eternity of minutes, they finally managed to figure out, by touch alone, through all the blood, if she was dilated. She was. Just barely. That made the pregnancy an inevitable loss, they told me. I signed the consent and they took her up for what they said would be a 20 minute surgery. Even more ironically, they took us up to one of the pre-delivery rooms to prep her for the surgery. It turned out to be the very same room we were in before our first (and thus far only) child was born. Oh how the feelings were different this time around. Oh how those feelings were amplified and made worse by the memories of the last time I was in that room. And there they left me, where I waited for word.

      I sat there, wondering if I'd at least get my wife back after this. Then 20 minutes passed, and nothing. Thirty minutes. Forty. Forty five. I started to get worried and thought all sorts of horrible things that I will not put words to. Mainly, then, I start to think about the abortion debate. About pro-lifers, in particular. I think about all those meddling politicians that would want to interject themselves into everything that just happened to me, interject themselves between me, my wife, and her doctors. And then I had a strong, visceral reaction. I wanted to rip off their heads and tear out their hearts, because how DARE they play politics with my wife's life? The baby was fine until the end. I wondered if that would have meant they'd force us to let my wife bleed until almost death before they'd let us abort, because well, if she's not near death, then it is just a 'health' exception, and we can't have that! This was what went through my mind as I sat there, waiting to see if, after my baby died, my wife had died as well. I still feel that visceral reaction when I think about it, though not quite as strong - right then and there, if someone pro-life walked in and started talking about it to me, I very well might have physically attacked them. And I'm about as non-violent as one gets.

      Finally, the doctors come out and tell me she's fine and headed to recovery. Again, she's in the same slot in recovery as she was after the birth of our daughter. I'm exhausted. It is now 1 am. She will be there overnight. I make sure she's ok and I head for home.

      Obviously, I'm still pro-choice. And I do still say that I'll personally never have an abortion. But if anyone tells me politicians should meddle in what should be between one's doctor and one's self, I'll tell them, politely, {that I disagree}.

      In the weeks after this happened, I reflected on some other things as well. While I was upset at losing the little one that I saw on those ultrasounds, it did not feel even 1/100th of how I'd have felt if we'd lost my then 17 month old daughter. Not even close. We did not have a funeral. We did mourn, in a way, but nothing like you'd do with a baby who has been born. In short, just instinctively, we knew it was nothing like that. It was a seed of a person, but it really wasn't a person yet, not in our awareness. Nobody really treats a 9 week old fetus like that. Not even pro-lifers. More food for thought.

      Anyway, I wonder sometimes if this is why I decided to actually make my own blog. Because I have things to say. I'm not sure if that is why, but the timing makes me wonder. This all happened very shortly before I made my blog here. So yes, it is still relatively fresh. It is still raw. I still have trouble thinking about it. I wanted to write about it, but just couldn't. I have mixed feelings about even posting this. But I think it will be cathartic. So here goes.
    • My heart goes out to you and the situation you were in here. I won't even pretend to know what that was like--I can hear your raw emotion about how difficult that was here in these comments.

      Let me first say that, in my opinion, what you and your wife went through qualifies as endangering the "health" and "life" of the mother, and I would suspect that you also are infuriated that many abortions become about what is "convenient" disguised as "health,"--given that your wife has been in a real life threatening situation. When you look at statistics for abortion, there is a huge difference between what you all experienced and pregnancies terminated for no true-health risk to the mother or baby. I would be elated if Roe v. Wade could be overtuned, even if there was an exception for a situation like yours--a true life-threatening emergency, because I know that to be a small percentage of the overall millions of abortions.

      I also want to say a quick comment about your use of the word "meddle." I understand your visceral reactions and that this is very fresh on your heart and mind, and because of that it would seem that politicians, as you say, would be meddling in your business. But I have to ask, if an intruder in your home was threatening the life of your wife or your daughter, wouldn't you want the police to step in and protect you, and God forbid, if that intruder injured one of them, wouldn't you want the politicians to make sure the law dealt with that intruder? We have to protect life, whether it is a 3 month old life in the womb or a 76 year old life, and Roe v. Wade drops the ball in a big way in protecting life. I am one of the biggest opponents of government intervention in our lives, but that doesn't mean I am against police officers protecting my life when I need it, for example. That's all I am asking for when it comes to these babies, and again, if I were a politician with legislation before me to overturn Roe v. Wade, but it had an exception in there for the true health-emergencies like you and your wife experienced, I would sign it in a heartbeat, because I will not throw out the baby with the bathwater (excuse the cliche). I'd rather see an end to the largest majority of abortions and then let the true health-emergencies be decided by the mother and father involved, then through out all attempts at overturning Roe v. Wade because of a small percentage of cases.

      Does that make sense? I appreciate your comments (which please understand I had to edit the profanity, not because I don't understand your strong emotion, but because of my audience--be assured I didn't edit any of your context). Even if we are on different sides of the political debate ultimately, I hear your heart and do not condemn you in the slightest for the choice you and your wife made. As I said earlier, if there was a chance at ending abortion except for cases like your wife's, I would be at the front of that line with my support.

      Thanks again.
    • You wrote: "If people really knew the whole truth about abortion, how many of them would still support it? ... Isn’t this abysmal and abhorrent infanticide on a mass scale enough to at least give us pause?"

      Yes, it gives us pause. And after the pause we remember that part of the meaning of the word "my" in the phrase "my body" is, I get to decide who else gets to live inside it, and when, AND HOW LONG. If you were inside my body I'd be entitled to kill you. If I were inside your body you'd be entitled to kill me. In fact if all the people in the whole world were assembled somewhere inside my body, I'd be entitled to holocaust them. Or, SOME of them.

      Abortion is homicide. Doing an abortion against the patient's will is baby-murder. And abortion on demand is JUSTIFIABLE homicide.
    • aredvoice
      Thank you for a very informative and truthful post. Abortion is truly a “modern day sacrifice of the most innocent of human beings to a god of comfort and convenience.” Pro-abortion advocates discourage young, vulnerable women considering abortion from obtaining the whole truth. Thank you for sharing the truth.
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