written by Jason Arthur, Owner & Operator of
Hoy So |
Pro-Choice In talking to those with Pro-Choice views we have found that those who wish to leave the option of abortion up to the mother feel that the fetus is not a living organism, or human, until its heart begins to beat which happens 18-21 days after conception (the third week) or until it has gained consciousness of it's existence and the ability to sense and interpret pain (this happens at six months when the brain neurons begin to interlink and higher brain functions turn on for the first time). This can be understood, prior to six months a fetus (or embryo) despite having a beating heart and developing lungs, can not feel pain and is not conscious of it's existence or aware of it's own life. For
this reason people feel comfortable getting abortions because the
fetus will feel nothing, it will be unaware of what is happening to
itself and as the popular saying goes "no harm, no foul". Pro-Life People who do not agree with abortion simply do not feel right killing the fetus or embryo because it is a living organism. It may not be a conscious human, but it has a beating heart between 18 & 21 days after conception, it has some brain functionality and responds to prodding at around two months. This is around the time abortions are done, it is the time when the organism begins remote brain functionality and has a beating heart that it is killed. Pro-Life people do not feel that lack of consciousness is a rightful excuse for abortion because the fetus will grow into a child. It is not that the child has no hope of survival, it does, it is that someone simply does not want it to survive and has it aborted. Pro-Life people feel this is the essence and definition of murder. When someone does not want another living thing to live and they kill it, it is considered murder in every other instance and feel this ought to be one as well. Alternatives Everyone has their own reasons for getting an abortion, perhaps feelings of shame or the high cost of child birth. Hospital bills can run around $10,000 for childbirth and abortions (in second trimester stages) only run up to $3,000. That can really be a clencher despite abortion repercussions and side effects on women. However there are programs out there that help with hospital bills and third parties that can break down payments into manageable pieces. Cost should not be an excuse, although it can be high, you can get around it. Being put in the unfortunate position to have to face it is merely a result of having been sexually active. This should be understood prior to having sex. Day After Pill There is a pill out there and medication that hastens a woman's period to come almost instantly, this is used and suggested after having unprotected sex. You can use it after having sex if you feel the condom broke or anytime you fear that you may be in danger of becoming pregnant. The eggs are expelled in your period and the "day after pill" as it is often referred to is also often good up to five days or a week after intercourse. Although it is not suggested you wait that long it can only help if you can get it in that timeframe. You should consult a doctor or physician for more information on that matter. If you do not have insurance you can visit your state or local health department or pregnancy center for more information, they also often give them out as well. Sometimes a physical is required or some money, but whatever the cost is it must fall far short of the costs of childbirth. One should never rely on this method, but it is there for those times you feel you may really need it. Birth Control Birth control is often thought of something that is given out by a doctor, but you can also often get it from your state or local health and pregnancy centers. Again, it may require a physical or money but you should always understand the cost for it will be far less than the costs and effects of childbirth and pregnancy. Protection What more is there to say about protection? We all know to use condoms, we shouldn't have to even mention it. Everyone gives them out, everyone sells them, just buy some condoms. If you don't think you will ever be in the position to have sex, buy some condoms, because if you ever least expected it to happen and you are without one you will either not be having sex at all (no one wants that) or risking it, and you will regret that much later. Having a party? Keep some on hand, put them in a bowl as favors, just be prepared. If your efforts were for without cause, at least you have a bunch of condoms to play with. Give them to your parents for christmas, as baby shower gifts to your sisters or cousins. There is always an occasion to give someone a condom. Adoption The last thing anyone wants to do is give their child away. But you know what, you can give it to a family member. They can adopt your child and take care of it if not willingly doing so without the paperwork. You can reserve rights to visit your child and keep in touch with foster parents if you like because you just can't afford to keep the child yourself. It may not be the prettiest option but it beats killing a baby and not offering it a chance at living and having the life that you brought upon it by having sex in the first place. The Exception Rape We feel that rape ought to be the soul exception for abortion. Victims do not have consensual sex. The pregnancy and costs of childbirth and all effects on their lives from both were forced upon them with no choice or say. However, if this were the one exception you can bet that rape charges would increase with expecting mothers charging their consensual partners with rape simply to qualify for an abortion. Rape victims ought to only be applicable for abortion if it can be shown the rapist is a relative, the victim is under 18, mentally challenged or disabled, or if there is hard physical evidence that the rape was not consensual and was reported in a timely manner. For example witnesses or signs of abuse. This would be to prevent any woman from charging a consensual partner with rape merely to qualify for abortion, yet leave underage women, handicapped women or women raped by relatives who might fear coming out about it from not qualifying for abortion themselves. We feel this ought to be the soul exception for abortion. In all other cases the repercussions of pregnancy and costs of child birth ought to be an understanding prior to having sex. If you have sex and fail to prepare for it, or fail to follow preventative measure after the fact, all following results ought to be taken upon your shoulders despite your willingness to handle it and desire of it to just go away. Summary As it is with the law, ignorance is no excuse, the same ought to apply to abortion. Having consensual sex ought to be a sign that one accepts all the responsibilities that having sex can bring forth. Alternatives ought to be taught and made easily available so that abortion can become unnecessary. We teach our kids how to have sex and how to wear a condom, but we should also teach kids what to do if they become pregnant. Show them all the options available to them to deal with their pregnancy and not just put up posters and expect kids to teach themselves something they do not feel will ever apply to them. They will not care until it affects them in some way directly or indirectly. When this happens it may be too late. Pro-Choice is a good thing to have. Choices are freedom and without freedom we are nothing. Freedom is the reason for living, yet we are not offering a soon to be child any freedom by aborting it. We are taking it's freedoms away. In every other instance in the law killing a human organism is wrong. Even with comatose patients we are not killing them, but unplugging their life support to see if their bodies can support themselves. That is the closest the law gets to allowing one person to cause anothers death without it being considered murder. But when you abort a fetus, you are crushing it's body into pulp or burning it beyond a state that it can continue to develop with saline then tearing it out of it's womb and throwing it away. How this is not viewed as murder under the law is unexplainable. Some Things To Think About If a child is asleep they are unconscious. They are unaware of what is going on around them. Would you, if you did not want the child, at this moment crush all of their bones and suck the leftover pulp that was once their body through a small tube or possibly instead inject them with a saline solution burning and dissolving all their organs? That is what we do to abort a fetus, either inject it with saline or crush it's body and flesh and suck it out through a small tube because it is unconscious and unaware of its surroundings despite its brain activity and beating heart. Someone in a coma has a chance, if not slim, of slipping out. If they allow it, someone (if they have not requested it in their living will) may make the choice to pull the plug that keeps them alive. This can only be done by one person, someone who is given permission to do it to the other who is unconscious and unaware of their surroundings. A fetus can not give permission. Its beating heart and faint brain activity might match that of a personin a coma, but because it is in a womb no permission is needed to end it's life, which every living thing has a right to have. Except the fetus. Fetus is not often attached to feelings of compassion, no one raises a fetus or sees fetus' around to feel bad for them when they are killed. However, a fetus becomes a child. Children sleep in a fetal position, when asleep they are unconscious and would not feel any pain if killed, but it would be wrong to do that because they are children. How is this any different from killing a fetus, except that a fetus is still in the womb. It is there in the third trimester, but you do not abort it then. Why? Because it is conscious and can now feel pain? These should not be excuses. |
