HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1981-06-24, Page 9lof What Every Canadian Should Know About Abortion! Is Abortion ever Justified? 1. What is abortion? . . Abortion, is the killing of a human being. It stops a pregnancy and ends the life of an innocent member of the human family. 2. Does a permissive law reduce
the number of illegal abortions?
No. A British study, "Illegal Abortions and the Abortion Act of 1967",
(British Journal of Criminology 1976) concluded illegal abortions
did not decrease after the widening of the British abortion law.
Other studies done in Japan, Hungary, Switzerland, Poland,
U.S.S.R. and Scandinavia (countries which permit legal abortions)
indicate NO decrease in criminal abortions. In fact as legal abort-
ions have escalated in Yugoslavia, for example, illegal abortions
have also increased.
3. Does abortion reduce child
abuse? . • •
No. According to an exhaustive 7 year study of 764 battered child-
ren. by Dr. E. Lenowski, at the University of Southern California,
90% 'of those battered children were wanted by their parents at
the time of conception. It was factors other than "unwontedness"
(such as unrealistic expectations for the child and inadequate par-
enting skills), which accounted for the battering. Abortion is "bat-
tering" in the womb, the earliest and most violent form of child
abuse.
4. Is rape a reason for abortion?...
Rape is a crime of violence; so is abortion. For physiological rea-
sons, pregnancy resulting from rape is extremely rare. However,
in the rare event mat a pregnancy should occur, society should of-fer loving, caring support for the two victims, mother and child. Having suffered the trauma of rape, the mother should not be further traumatized by an abortion. To use abortion as an after-the-fact solution is compounding the problem and punishing the innocent child for the crime of the father.
5. Are abortions jever necessary
for medical reasons? . .
Even pro-abortionist doctors agree that pregnancy rarely threatens
the life of the mother. If a pregnant woman suffers a fatal disease,
abortions will not stop the disease process. Mothers have borne
healthy babies after kidney transplants and major heart surgery.
Pregnancy is medically safer today than ever before. PREGNANCY
IS A NORMAL BODILY PROCESS - NOT A DISEASE.
6. Do pro-life people impose their
morality on others? . .
It is not a question of imposing morality on others, but rather a
question of defending the rights of those who cannot do so for them-
selves. Abortion is a civil rights issue, involving the unborn child's
right to life: The slogan, "needom of Choice" is not applicable to
the abortion issue. FREEDOM OF CHOICE STOPS WHERE THE
RIGHTS OF OTHERS BEGIN.
7. What about test tube babies and
early abortions? . . .
Fetilized embryos are used for genetic research, and for human ex-
perimentation. Embroys are screened and selected in the lab before implantation into a woman's womb. Defective and unwanted em-bryos are discarded and left to die. This is the willful destruction and abuse of early fetal life. England's Dr. P. Steptoe, who financed his experiments through a lutrative abortion practice, adinitted he rejected 200 fertilized ova (human beings) during his research for
the first Test Tube baby.
8. What about the medical conse-
-quences,of -abortion?
The British commissioned Wynn Report indicated the possible
IMMEDIATE COMPLICATIONS of abortion to the mother are:
Hemorrhage, infection and perforation of the uterus. The possible
• LATER COMPLICATIONS. usually ignored by hospital statistics
and by abortion counsellors,include an increase in tubal pregnancy,
• sterility and incompetent cervix, causing miscarriages in subse-
- quent pregnancies and deep-seated depression. The LONG TERM
CONSEQUENCES to offspring are premature births, leading to an
increased incidence of brain damage, cerebral palsy, mental re-
tardation, learning disabilities, repiratoty problems. etc.
9.. Does a woman who gets preg-
nant and gives up her baby for
adoption .suffer more than if
she had -.an _abortion? • * •••
There is no doubt that giving up a child for adoption can be difficult
and painful. However, the greatest gift a mother gives her child is
the gift of life, so the decision to let a child be a part of another fam-
ily to live and,be loved is a gift of love. This knowledge can ease
the pain. A mother who aborts her baby has no such:comfort.
How Abortions are Done
Saline
In this procedtre, done after 16 weeks, a long need-
le is inserted through the mother's abdomen into
surrounds the baby to produce early labouv To
ensure that the baby won't be born alive a sub-
stance poisonous to the baby (urea) is also inject-
D & C Abortion
Lit tilts procedure. with a sharp, loop-shaped steel
knife the surgeon cuts the tiny body of the deve-
Hysterotomy
This is exactly like a Caesarean Section and is per-
formed when, the baby may be too developed for
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