Why Abortion

What will it take to let women know that it is wrong? Some people try not to think about abortion. They avoid the overwhelming horror reality of it. Others advocate abortion because of their personal dilemma. Regardless of the individual circumstance we must think about abortion in order to gather the courage needed to end it.

Kate Michelman described her situation in 1970, she was abandoned by her husband and left to care for her three children alone. A week after her husband left she found out that she was pregnant. She claims, "Another child would turn a crisis into a catastrophe." (Michelman) Being a devout Catholic, confronting abortion, as a possible solution would challenge her personal, moral and ethical beliefs. She had two options. "The first was a therapeutic abortion that her family doctor mentioned. Under state law, a hospital review board could approve if they determined she was mentally unstable or medically unfit to continue the pregnancy. The alternative was a back-alley abortion meant having a surgical procedure performed by someone of uncertain competence, often in unsafe and unsanitary conditions."(Michelman) Knowing her parents strong convictions and not sure of how they would react she decided not to tell them neither ask for help. After the board members reviewed her case she was qualified. She made a difficult decision and went through the abortion. On the day of the procedure a nurse asked her if she was divorced yet. She replied with utter disgust "No! The divorce process had become complicated due to financial support issue."(Michelman) The nurse politely told her that by law she needs her husband written consent before the procedure. Now she was outraged and furious. All these qualification steps had humiliated her and stripped her dignity. She managed to get her husband sign the permission form and the abortion was finalized.

Lets look at abortion for a second. When abortion occurs spontaneously, it is called a miscarriage. However, when a fetus is intentionally terminated it is regarded as a moral issue. They are performed in different ways that are all considered unethical. The most common surgical abortions are vacuum aspiration, which is performed with a machine that uses a vacuum to suck the baby out of the uterus. Another surgical type is dilation and curettage, the mother's cervix is dilated and a long rod is scraped along the side of the uterus to dislodge the baby. In some cases, the doctor will take forceps and crush the baby's head in order to kill it. The cruelest of them all is the partial birth abortion done during third trimester pregnancies. The baby is delivered feet first and pulled out as far as the neck. Then the doctor will use a sharp medical instrument to stab the base of the skull and insert a suction catheter to vacuum the brain causing the skull to collapse. (Creinin)

Now with all of these barbaric facts, I can't seem to understand how abortion is allowed in any society. As a woman we all experience different adversaries from time to time. But pregnancy is a gift from the one and only creator God. Every fetus created from conception has a distinct purpose. We are given this gift to nurture, love and influenced with wisdom and good deeds and in return we get rewarded. After all its quite clear from the creator, one of the central values was thou shall not kill. (Tyndale) Abortion is a direct violation of one of the Ten Commandments. Whether one believes it or not the bottom line truth is all Commandments apply to all of us. And those that are humble and willing will seek their way to read it, obey and reap the rewards in return.

Clearly Kate Michelman circumstance influenced her choice at the time. She was very sure that it was the best decision. She stated "I