Rights start at conception
by Meredith Waites, Reporter

  The abortion debate brings many types of issues to life: religious, political, social, medical and personal.

  The pro-life movement argues that the life of a baby begins long before he or she is born.

  A new individual human being begins at fertilization, when the sperm and ovum meet to form a single cell.

  In the United States, more than 40 million unborn babies have been killed since abortion was legalized in 1973 and more than 1.3 million babies are killed each year.

  The two arguments on abortion concern pro-life v. pro-choice.

  Claim 1: "It's not a person-just a blob of tissue."

  When a woman is pregnant, science tells us that the new life she carries is a complete and fully new human being from the moment of fertilization.

  By the time most abortions can be performed, the baby already has a beating heart and identifiable brain waves.

  The baby living in the mother is as distinct and unique a new person/human being as you are from me, and as deserving under the law as we are.

  Claim 2: "It's my body ... a woman's choice."

  Every mother faces profound decisions to make for herself and her child, but these decisions can never include the right to kill her baby.

  It is a life or death decision for mothers and their children, and they should be well informed of the facts of fetal development.

  Claim 3: "What will we do with all the unwanted kids (poor babies, over population, abuse, etc.)?"

  We will never end poverty in our world simply by killing poor children.

  The poor mother who is encouraged to have an abortion today is just as poor tomorrow.

  Problems such as lack of job security, education or abuse are not cured by ignoring their existence in a woman's life and turning to abortion as a way to make it all go away.

  The problem is lack of development, not population. Women worldwide desire good basic health care for themselves and their families.

  Countries that ban abortion often do so because of strong cultural and religious beliefs that respect each new life.

  That respect needs to be backed up with wiser development plans not more dangerous and deadly abortion activity.

  In countries with no guarantee of clean running water, abortion will become a death sentence for women and their babies.

  Claim 4: "If abortion is made illegal, women will die in alleys."

  Numbers often used by pro-abortionists are vast fabrications mostly from the pro-abortion lobby, Dr. Bernard Nathanson, founder of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, said.

  The real numbers of death before 1973 are shockingly different.

  Thirty-nine women died of illegal abortions in 1972, the year before Roe v. Wade.

  The widespread introduction of antibiotics into medicine, not legalization of abortion, has helped save the lives of women who would have died of botched abortions. Mothers deserve better answers than the death of their children through the violence of abortion.

  Claim 5: "What about a woman who has been raped, has experienced incest or is carrying a disabled or sick child?"

  We do not cure illness by killing the patient.

  Aborting a child with a disability or illness is the height of prejudice.

  When a family learns that the child they are expecting may have a special need, that family needs support and good solid medical information, not the death of their most fragile member.

  When a woman has been raped or is a victim of incest, she has experienced a terrifying act of violence; she is a victim.

  While pregnancy is extremely rare from rape, it can happen.

  In several studies, women who were encouraged to use abortion in such circumstances believed they had been through a second act of violence with the abortion.

  Everyone has rights in our country, but these rights have certain limits.

  Is it impossible to suggest that killing a single-celled, just fertilized ovum, which will produce a human person is a crime?

  When a man fatally shoots another man intentionally, we consider this a crime.

  Punishment is then served to this criminal, but letting a woman kill a child is considered legal.

  It seems hypocritical to say killing an adult is wrong, but it is all right to kill an unborn child.

  Where is the distinction of justice made in this issue?

  Regardless of the circumstances, it is still a crime. Death is the final cessation of life.

  Defining death has become an issue in the case of abortion.

  If a human being has been conceived and then killed, regardless of the stage of life, death has occurred.

  I do not understand how a person decides to have an abortion for social reasons, such as not feeling ready for a baby at the time or having partner push for an abortion.

  Approximately 93 percent of all induced abortions are done for elective, non-medical reasons.

  I am not sure if some women are not informed of their options or if they think abortion is the only answer to an unwanted pregnancy.

  A person should understand that human life can result from sexual intercourse. People should take full responsibility for their actions and deal with the consequences.

  Many options are available for women in need. Throughout the United States, nearly 3,000 crisis pregnancy centers provide help for women facing unplanned or untimely pregnancies.