By Jackie Bowles
Recently, I was asked to work on a project about abortion. I hadn’t really put too much thought or attention to this subject before. Nor had I considered the methods of abortion, the impact of this practice throughout the world, the effects it has on a mother or the pain the fetus feels. Never could I imagine that a business would exist to broker in the collecting and selling of fetal parts. The more I studied the more disgusted I became. Without a doubt I am Pro-Life. My heart aches for those little babies that aren’t even given a chance at life.
There are many different procedures to abort babies from simply popping a pill in early stage to surgical removal in later stages. Three of the methods I found particularly disturbing are typically done in the 2nd or 3rd trimester.
- Dilation & Extraction (D&E) involves taking forceps with sharp metal jaws and twisting different body parts off of the developing fetus.
- Partial Birth Abortion is a live abortion. The baby is brought into the birth canal legs first and then scissors are jabbed into the back of the baby’s head and a suction catheter is placed into the head of the fetus and sucks out the brain; then the body is removed.
- Salt Poisoning is where a needle is put into the mother’s abdomen and amniotic fluid is removed from the womb (about 1 cup worth) and replaced with a solution of concentrated salt.
My stomach has become upset just thinking and writing about this. These are such violent acts on such sweet, innocent infants. There are so many people in that world that desperately want children and would do anything to have them, and then we have mothers willing to undergo such procedures to destroy something so precious.
Most people have heard of the landmark US Supreme Court case Roe vs. Wade that legalized abortion in the United States. However, less well known is the woman, Norma McCorvey, whose experience caused the case to begin with. In 1969, Norma was pregnant for the third time and wanted to have an abortion. While living in Texas, the only way she could do this was to claim rape. The police found no record or evidence of this alleged rape. It took so long to fight this battle that Norma ended up delivering her baby and placing it up for adoption. Her friends wanted to continue the fight on her behalf. Later in Norma’s life she became friends with an evangelical minister and director of Operation Rescue, a group actively campaigning to make abortion illegal. Norma was eventually converted in 1995 and quit her job at an abortion clinic where she had worked for many years. She became an advocate for Operation Rescue and in her own words related the following experience:
“I was sitting in O.R.’s offices when I noticed a fetal development poster. The progression was so obvious, the eyes were so sweet. It hurt my heart, just looking at them. I ran outside and finally, it dawned on me. ‘Norma’, I said to myself, ‘They’re right’. I had worked with pregnant women for years. I had been through three pregnancies and deliveries myself. I should have known. Yet something in that poster made me lose my breath. I kept seeing the picture of that tiny, 10-week-old embryo, and I said to myself, that’s a baby! It’s as if blinders just fell off my eyes and I suddenly understood the truth — that’s a baby!
I felt crushed under the truth of this realization. I had to face up to the awful reality. Abortion wasn’t about ‘products of conception’. It wasn’t about ‘missed periods’. It was about children being killed in their mother’s wombs. All those years I was wrong. Signing that affidavit, I was wrong. Working in an abortion clinic, I was wrong. No more of this first trimester, second trimester, third trimester stuff. Abortion — at any point — was wrong. It was so clear. Painfully clear.”
Norma regretted her role in changing history, but could do nothing about it. She now is a Pro-life promoter and activist.
A fetus is a living, moving person from the very beginning. Studies show that a fetus can feel pain about 4-5 weeks after conception. In an abortion, their cries of pain cannot be heard, but through ultrasounds the fetus can be seen grimacing, withdrawing and a rapid rise in stress hormones measured through high blood pressure and pulse rate. With that being said, is abortion painful to the fetus? YES! Mothers have been known to experience grieving and suffer psychologically after an abortion. Not to mention any side effects from the procedure itself. And I won’t even go into detail about Planned Parenthood’s shady multi-million dollar business of selling fetal body parts. But if you want to see more check out this video: Planned Parenthood.
Any angle of abortion is devastating. There are so many mothers out there that would love to adopt and would love to hold that sweet baby in their arms. There are better alternatives to abortion, ones that will be better for both mom and baby. Let’s let the babies live; let’s give them a chance.