Potential Terminated

Potential Terminated
A small life form grows steadily in a warm, safe sanctuary. It is not yet ready to face the world, but is has no need to yet. It exists in a world of its own. Its heartbeat is steady and there are unique fingerprints formed on the tiny fingers. Suddenly, the haven is no longer safe. There is an intruder inside of the placental wall. The little life is poisoned and it reluctantly leaves its own world. It is forced into the colder atmosphere of the outside. It never experiences the new world, though, because it is dead. All potential that individual may have had is wrenched from his or her tiny grasp and has been terminated.

Worldwide, thirty-five out of 1,000 women have an unnatural abortion. Approximately twenty-five percent of the total number of abortions is performed in countries or regions where abortion is legal. This statistic shows that regardless of whether or not the law allows abortions, women still find ways to end their unwanted pregnancies. Statistics also show that in areas where sex education is nonexistent or of poor quality, the number of abortions is greatly elevated. Along with the increased number of abortions in those regions, the death toll of the mothers is also higher. An average of 70,000 women die each year from botched abortions. If both parents of all statusesmarried, unmarried, willing, or unwillingtook responsibility for their actions and realized that life is something to be valued, not snuffed out, the deaths of the innocent would be significantly less. The legality of abortion is relatively insignificant. I believe that the individual choice is what needs to be altered, more so than making a law for or against it.

Pro-choice advocates often argue that abortion is perfectly right and moral because the fetus is part of the mother’s body. They assert that the mother has the right to do as she pleases with her body. Upon a little deeper study of the fetus, or the baby, a slightly different view comes to light. I see the baby as a separate human being from the time of conception. After all, at conception, when the ovum and the sperm unite, a completely new cell is formed. This new cell is called a zygote, and it has twenty-three chromosomes from the mother as well as twenty-three chromosomes from the father. Twenty-two of those chromosome pairs, the autosomes, controls the genetic information of the new individual, and the twenty-third pair determines the sex. The existence of an entirely different chromosomal identity indicates an entirely separate being, not simply part of the mother’s body. All the necessary information and coding is present for an autonomous identity, a new human being. The mother has a completely different genotype and phenotype from the zygote. The paired chromosomes of the zygote are made up of deoxyribonucleic acid, (DNA), and the DNA can be broken down further into genes. The genes determine all the baby’s distinctive traits.

Kids continue to grow outside of the womb. After birth, infants are still entirely dependant on the mother. Their heads are roughly one-third the size of their bodies, their cognition skills are limited, and their motor skills are anything but refined. Development continues into adolescence and even young adulthood. And yet, if a child or teenager is slaughtered, it is considered murder. The “fetus” is not fully formed, just as a child is not fully formed.

I often wonder at what point people in favor of abortion believe that the fetus becomes a real human. By the fourth week of life, the baby already has a heartbeat. All the organs are formed by the eighth week, and by the ninth, the tiny fingers already have fingerprints. Most chemical abortions are recommended before the ninth week. Should not children of all ages, in all locations on earth, have the right to be nurtured and protected until they reach maturity? The fact that the baby is not outwardly visible in the womb does not automatically make the child nothing but a mass of offending cells, as though he or she were a cancerous growth.

Partial-birth abortions wait until the third trimester. Once the baby has been carried to that stage, it could potentially survive outside the womb. Aborting the baby at that point of life does not sound very humane to me, and also poses a potential danger to the mother. Even prominent abortionists agree that partial-birth abortions are not safe. Warren Hern, a leading abortionist in the United States commented that, “You really can’t defend it . . . I would dispute any statement that it is the safest procedure to use . . . Turning the fetus to a breech position is potentially dangerous. You have to be concerned about causing amniotic fluid embolism or placental abruption if you do that.” If the danger is so great for mothers in such a developed country, then the risk is even worse in countries where the facilities and methods are of a much more crude nature.

Abortion is not a new practice. Women have been choosing to rid themselves of unwanted consequences of their actions for many centuries. However, the value of the lives of the unborn seems to have begun much earlier in the history of mankind. King David wrote in the 139th Psalm about God placing intense interest in His creations.
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
If indeed this text is true, then abortion is a bit more complicated than a simple removal of irksome tissue.

Due to the staggering numbers of people on this planet, each with his or her own beliefs, opinions, and justifications, one single solution does not jump out and bite searching problem solvers on the nose. Education of people from all backgrounds and countries may ease the abortion statistics slightly, but the precept on its own will not save every infant’s life. Also, the thought of attempting to adapt sex education of this nature to every culture is staggering.

Many abortions in other parts of the world are performed due to pressure from the government or society. For instance, in China, overpopulation is a concern and the traditional bane of having more than one female child drives many parents to either abort their children in the womb or after birth. The value of life in that country as well as in other countries, such as India and Cuba, does not bode well for thousands of conceived infants.

Clearly, violence and hostility toward either pro-life or pro-choice advocates are not the answers! No solutions are found when neither side listens to the other. Once again, the responsibility is handed to the individual. Research shows that a large reduction in abortions occurs when effective contraceptive devices are used. The availability of these contraceptives in developed countries is a leading factor in the reduced number of abortions, and it goes hand in hand with the education of the populace. However, availability is not very effective without instruction. In order to reduce the number of young lives snatched away each year, I believe that the governments around the globe should make an effort to educate their people through programs suitable to their culture and to make available means of prevention. Perhaps when more people know exactly what goes on with the fetus in the earliest stages of existence, and how to prevent it if they so choose, they will not be quite as hasty to end that small, potentially great life.