Download Defending the Right to Choose (Warning: contains graphic images)
Introduction
“I like pizza because pizza is my favorite food.” Defending the goodness of pizza requires little more than such a statement! A successful defense of a subject requires knowledge of that subject beyond how you might feel about it.
Defending the phrase “a woman’s right to choose” requires knowledge. It requires knowledge of what is being chosen. Everyone knows that this phrase is not referring to a woman’s right to choose a new dress or new shoes. It refers to choosing an abortion. Defending the “right to choose” requires knowledge of abortion. The purpose of this booklet is to help people understand what defending the “right to choose” involves.
Definition
How about a little Latin? Abortion comes from two Latin words, ab and oriri. Ab means “away from.” If something is ab-normal, it is “away from” the norm. We get the word “Orient” from oriri. The Orient is in the east where the sun rises. Oriri means to “arise” or “appear.” Aboriri, therefore, means “away from appearing” or “disappear.” Abortion is often defined as the “termination of a pregnancy.” There are only two ways a pregnancy can be terminated—the “appearing” of the child at birth or the “disappearing” of the child before birth. The choice of abortion causes the “disappearing” of an unborn child.
Abortion Methods
Defending the “right to choose” requires knowledge of how this “disappearing” takes place. The common methods used are listed below.
Suction Abortion: The majority of all surgical abortions use this method. It is used during the first three months of pregnancy. A tube is inserted into the uterus. The tube is connected to a suction device 27 times more powerful than your home vacuum cleaner. The child and his or her placenta are sucked through this tube into a collection bottle. The remains are examined to insure all the parts are there.
Dilation and Curettage (D&C): This method is used between 10 and 12 weeks into the pregnancy when the child is getting too big to be suctioned through the tube. The cervix is dilated so that a long handled instrument called a curette can be inserted. The curette with its looped cutting edge scrapes the placenta from the uterine wall and cuts the child into smaller pieces that can then be suctioned.
Dilation and Evacuation (D&E): As the pregnancy continues, the child becomes too big for either of the above methods. In the D&E method, the cervix is dilated over a period of two or three days. A forceps is inserted and used to dismember the child one limb at a time and to extract each part. Finally, the head is crushed and removed. All parts are “reassembled” on a metal tray following the procedure to make sure the abortion is complete.
Dilation and Extraction (D&X): Referred to as “Partial-Birth Abortion,” this method also requires up to three days for dilating the cervix. The abortionist guides the child feet first through the birth canal and allows all but the head to be delivered. Holding the head in place with one hand, the abortionist uses his other hand to puncture the base of the skull with a scissors-like instrument. A tube is inserted into this hole and the brains are suctioned out. The skull collapses, and the delivery of the now dead child is completed.
RU-486: This is a chemical abortion method approved by the FDA in 2000 for use in the first seven weeks of pregnancy. The pregnant woman takes a synthetic steroid, mifepristone, at her first visit to the abortionist. This disintegrates the uterine lining and causes the child to die. She returns to the abortionist 36 to 48 hours later and takes a second drug, misoprostol. She goes home and waits for this drug to cause uterine contractions, and the dead child is expelled. She must be examined 14 days later to be sure no portion of the child remains in her uterus.
Abortion’s Scope and Reasons
Defending the “right to choose” is defending abortion during all nine months of pregnancy for any reason. States may not restrict abortion if the mother’s life or health is threatened. When it comes to abortion, the U.S. Supreme Court in Doe vs. Bolton legally defined health as “all factors — physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman’s age — relevant to the well-being of the patient. All these factors may relate to health.” In other words, defense of abortion is defending abortion for any reason. Most abortions are not done to end pregnancies that are the result of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. Over 90% of abortions are performed because: a baby would interfere with work, school, or other responsibilities; of financial concerns; of concerns about being a single parent; or of problems with the father of the child.
Abortion and Teens
Defending the “right to choose” is defending minors making life-changing decisions without parental involvement. In many states, minors do not need parental consent for an abortion. In most states where such consent is required, a judicial bypass is often easily obtained.
Abortion and Life
Defending the “right to choose” is defending the proposition that it is sometimes morally right to take an innocent human life. It is a biological fact that a genetically unique human life begins at conception. By the time most abortions are performed, the developing boy or girl has grown from a single cell to a tiny baby. The heart begins to beat at around 24 days. Brain waves can be recorded at 43 days. Movement begins at 45 days. By eight weeks every organ is present and functioning. The rest of the time in the womb is spent in further growth and development. It is important to know that it is not something that is aborted. It is someone.
Abortion’s Numbers
Defending the “right to choose” is defending the death of “someone” at an unprecedented scale. Abortion is one of the most common surgical procedures in the United States. Over 3,000 are performed each day. More Americans die from abortion in one year than died in all the wars in which America has ever fought.
Abortion’s Other “Someones”
Defending the “right to choose” is defending a choice that deeply affects those who make that choice. Abortion has physical, emotional, and spiritual effects on the women and men involved. An abortionist, who is also a psychiatrist, stated that abortion “is not as harmless and casual an event as many in the pro-abortion crowd insist. A psychological price is paid.” (1) Someone dies in an abortion. Someone else is deeply wounded.
Conclusion and Final Fact
You may like pizza because it is your favorite food, but defending a position requires more than just how you may feel about it. It requires knowledge of the facts. Defending something as controversial as “the right to choose” especially requires proper knowledge. This booklet has not been filled with extensive detailed data. It contains basic facts that everyone should know before defending abortion as a fundamental right.
There is one more important fact to know. God put it this way, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death” (Proverbs 16:25). The “right to choose” may sound like a good and right thing to defend. But it is important to ask, “What is being chosen?” When the answer to that question is abortion, the “right to choose” leads to death. It leads to the death of a tiny, innocent human being. It leads to a brutal death. There is nothing “right” about such a way. There has to be another way.
There is! Jesus put it this way, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). When faced with a crisis pregnancy, there is a way other than death. It is the way of life. It is choosing life and trusting in the Lord of Life. Jesus, who is the way to eternal life, has also promised the presence of His Spirit in the living of this life. It is not a way where fear and heartache are absent. It is a way where the living Jesus is present and promises to be at work in every circumstance in your life. Rather than defending the “right to choose,” this way assures that you are being defended. Jesus pleads your case before the Father, seeking forgiveness for your mistakes based on the payment He made on the cross. He asks the Father to look at you through Him and see His goodness covering you. He asks the Father to send the Spirit of comfort to walk beside you and turn your heartache into hope.
There is a way that seems right. It leads to death. There is a way that is right. It is where Jesus leads.
(Footnotes)
(1) David C. Reardon, The Jericho Plan – Breaking Down the Walls Which Prevent Post-Abortion Healing page 2.