Abortion: Whose Right To Life

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Abortion Whose Right To Life?

• By Elizabeth Kelly, Marvin Manzanares, Jared
  Muscat, Peter Damon

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Enduring Questions

• How do we decide when life begins?
• How do we decide whose rights are more valuable,
  the childs right to life, or the mothers right
  to choose?
• Should the right to choose (a womans right to
  choose abortion, a familys or persons right to
  choose euthanasia, etc) overrule someones
  quality of life?

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What Exactly Is Abortion?

• Websters Dictionary 1 the termination of a
  pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or
  closely followed by the death of the embryo or
  fetus as a spontaneous expulsion of a human
  fetus during the first 12 weeks of gestation
  (miscarriage, i.e. natural abortion)

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Background History/ Statistics

• Legalization of Abortion came in 1973
• Approximately 126,000 abortions conducted each
  day.
• Approximately 46 million abortions preformed each
  year (globally)
• Of those 46, 20 were illegal
• 1,370,000 happened in the US

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• In the US, teens under the age of 18 may get an
  abortion, but the age and restrictions vary for
  each state
• Ex If you are under 17 years of age you must
  have parental consent to get an abortion in
  Alaska
• Some states require parental notification,
  meaning the teen must tell her parents, but she
  doesnt need their permission
• Ex Delaware, Georgia, Iowa

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Statistics Cont

• 88 of abortions occur during the first 6 to
  12 weeks of pregnancy
• Many mothers choose this because there is little
  to no brain activity
• 60 of abortions are performed on women who
  already have one or more children.
• 47 of abortions are performed on women who have
  already had one or more abortions
• which means woman may be using this as a form a
  birth control

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Statistics Continued (again)

• 43 of women will have had at least one abortion
  by the time they are 45 years old
• 19 of women who get abortions are teenagers
  (world wide)

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Abortions All Around the World

• The Soviet Union was the first nation to legalize
  abortion in 1921
• Abortions are legal in 54 countries
• Statistically, Romania has the highest abortion
  rate in the world. 3 out of 4 pregnancies are
  terminated with abortion
• Aristotle believed of delayed ensoulment, which
  meant the fetus, originally, has a vegetable
  soul, then an animal soul, then a human soul
• Ensoulment takes 40 days for males
• Ensoulment takes 90 days for females

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Rising Abortion Rate of Austria
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World Abortions Cont.

• In Zambia Grounds for abortion
• To save the life of a woman
• To preserve physical health
• To preserve mental health
• For fetal repairment
• For economic or social reasons
• Not if pregnant from rape

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Methods of Abortion

• RU-486
• Suction Aspiration
• Dilation and Curettage
• Dilation and Evacuation
• Prostaglandin Abortion

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Ru-486

• RU-486 taken after a missed period
• Can be used up to the second month of the
  pregnancy
• It blocks progesterone, a hormone that makes the
  uterine lining produce food. W/o it, the fetus
  dies
• Symptoms nausea, severe cramping, vomiting,
  bleeding

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Suction Aspiration

• Suction-Aspiration
• cervical muscle ring is paralyzed and stretched
  open. The abortionist inserts a hollow plastic
  tube with a knife-like edge into the uterus. The
  suction tears the babys body into pieces. The
  placenta is cut from the uterine wall and
  everything is sucked into a bottle.

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Dilation and Curettage (D and C)

• Similar to Suction-Aspiration
• Loop-shaped knife is inserted into the uterus and
  cuts placenta and fetus into pieces --gt
  everything is scraped into a basin
• Usually heavy bleeding

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Dilation and Evacuation

• Done after the 3rd month of pregnancy
• Pliers-like instrument is inserted into the
  uterus, grabs hold of a body part of the fetus,
  and which a twisting motion, takes the fetus out
• This is done until only the head is left, and the
  skull is then crushed and taken out

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Prostaglandin Abortion

• Used in mid to late term abortions
• Prostaglandin induces labor, and the baby usually
  dies from trauma of the delivery
• If the baby is old enough, abortionists use an
  ultra-sound machine to help guide them as they
  inject feticide, a drug that kills the baby

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When Does Life Begin?

• A fetus heart begins to beat between the 18th
  and 25th day
• The brain begins to function as early as 40 days
• A fetus can live outside the womb after twenty
  weeks
• It takes fourteen days for a fertilized egg to
  become fully implanted in the womb

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Catholic Churchs View

• Then before 1869, life began 40 days after
  conception
• Now at moment of conception, God grants the
  fetus a soul
• Reasons why Abortion is WRONG
• Luke 142...Blessed art thou among women, and
  blessed is the fruit of thy womb
• This verse suggests that we hold the un-born as
  sacred
• Under the 5th commandment (thou shalt not murder)
  abortion is a crime

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Catholic Church View Continued

• Pope John Paul II says, Christians believe that
  "all human life is sacred, for it is created in
  the image and likeness of God."
• Third century Father of the Church, Tertullian,
  called abortion "accelerated homicide."
• The Didache, the earliest known Christian manual
  of discipline rejects abortion.
• It is a collection of Jewish moral instructions
  used b to be adopted by Christians who want to be
  baptized.

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Pro-Choice View on Abortion

• The basic argument for abortion is
• A womans body belongs to her, and she should
  have the right to do what she wants with it
• The right to choice is her constitutional right
• Senator Kerry on abortion we Democrats want to
  protect the constitutional right of privacy and
  make clear that at the center of this struggle is
  our commitment to have a Supreme Court that will
  protect the equal rights, the civil rights, and
  the right to choose in this nation.
  (http//www.issues2000.org/Social/John_Kerry_Abort
  ion.htm)

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Enduring Questions

• How do we decide when life begins?
• How do we decide whos rights are more valuable?
• How should a persons right to choose be affected
  by their quality of life (a womans right to
  choose abortion, a familys or persons right to
  choose euthanasia, etc)?

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Bibliography

• http//www.abortionfacts.com/abortion/q_facts.asp
• http//womensissues.about.com/cs/abortionstats/a/a
  aabortionstats.htm
• http//www.abortionfacts.com/literature/literature
  _9312ha.asp
• http//www.religioustolerance.org/abo_biblh.htm
• http//assistcpc.org/articles/roevwade.shtml
• http//www.religioustolerance.org/abo_right.htm
• http//www.didache-garrow.info/whatisdidache.htm
• http//www.usccb.org/prolife/issues/abortion/teach
  ing.htm
• http//www.silentvoices.org/abortion.html