Abortion
Illustrations
A professor in a
world-acclaimed medical school once posed this medical situation
-- and ethical problem -- to his students: "Here's the family
history: The father has syphilis. The mother has TB. They
already have had four children. The first is blind. The second
had died. The third is deaf. The fourth has TB. Now the mother
is pregnant again, The parents come to you for advice. They are
willing to have an abortion, if you decide they should. What do
you say?"
The students gave various individual opinions, and then the
professor asked them to break into small groups for
"consultation." All of the groups came back to report that they
would recommend abortion.
"Congratulations," the professor said, "You just took the life
of Beethoven!"
Abortion is no more purely a medical problem just because the
physician wields the curette than chemical warfare is purely a
problem for pilots because they press the lever releasing the
chemical.
Medical authorities determine a person to be "alive" if there is
either a detectable heartbeat or brain-wave activity. With that
in mind, it is eye-opening for some to realize that unborn
children have detectable heartbeats at eighteen days (two and
one-half weeks) after conception and detectable brain-wave
activity forty days (a little over five and one-half weeks)
after conception. What is so shocking is that essentially 100
percent of all abortions occur after the seventh week of
pregnancy
Why are children aborted? The Alan Guttmacher Institute (the
research arm of Planned Parenthood) states: * 1% are victims of
incest or rape * 1% had fetal abnormalities * 4% had a doctor
who said their health would worsen if they continued the
pregnancy * 50% said they didn't want to be a single parent or
they had problems in current relationships * 66% stated they
could not afford a child *75% said the child would interfere
with their lives.
How many children are aborted? Worldwide, 55 million unborn
children are killed every year. Around the world, every day
150,685 children are killed by abortion; every hour, 6278; and
every minute, 105. Those are the reported cases. If you are an
American citizen, no doubt your greatest interest is in your own
nation, as is mine. Let me break the abortions down to a
national statistic: 1,600,000 babies are aborted in these United
States every year. Per day, that's 4,383; per hour, that's 183;
per minute, there are 3.
C. Everett Koop, M.D., formerly the Surgeon General, states that
during his 35-plus years of practicing medicine, "Never once did
a case come across my practice where abortion was necessary to
save a mother's life."
Percentage of women who chose an abortion because having a baby
"would; change their life (job, school)": 76. Percentage who
chose an abortion because of rape or incest: 1.
Charles McCarry can claim a varied career. In addition to being
the author of The Tears of Autumn and The Last Supper, he served
as assistant to the Secretary of Labor in the Eisenhower cabinet
and has done two stints in the CIA. But he almost wasn't born.
Says McCarry, "My mother became pregnant with me at the age of
39. She had nearly died while giving birth to my only sibling.
Her doctor, who believed the second pregnancy was a serious
threat to her life, advised an abortion. The advice made sense,
but my mother refused to accept it. Just before she died at age
97, I asked her why. She replied, "I wanted to see who you were
going to turn out to be."
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