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four abor tions in her lifetime.
Parents the Greatest Threat?
Our society has degenerated to the
point where the prime reason for
aborting the unborn is that the chil–
dren are unwanted. These women
have not been raped, their Jives are
not in danger; they simply choose not
to have a baby after its conception.
Dr. C. Everett Koop, U.S. Sur–
geon General, writes in his book
The Right to Uve, the Right to
Die,
"The fact of the matter is that
abor tion as a necessity to save the
life of the mother is so rareas to be
nonexistent."
As the U.S. government said at
the conference on population in
Mexico City in 1984, "T he United
States does not consider abor tion
an acceptable element of family
planning programs." Yet within
the United States any woman can
have an abortion for
that
very rea–
son. T he abor tion laws in hypocriti–
cal America are among the most
liberal in the world .
T he U.S. abortion rate is a Iittle
different from the world's. Many
U.S. abortions are performed to
cover up premarital or extramarital
sex . Teenagers and young unmar–
ried women avail themselves of an
abortión rather than keep a chi ld .
Worldwide, abortion is more likely
to be used by a married woman to
limit the size of her family.
Even the late Dr. AJan F. Gutt–
macher, former president of the
Planned Parenthood Federation of
America a nd one o f the most
ardent proabort ionists, admitted,
" If every act of intercourse in
which pregnancy is not the desired
result were protected by effective
contraception,few
abortions would
be performed"
(emphasis added) .
When looking at the worldwide
abortion picture, the greatest threat
to the unboro child is not measles, not
smallpox, not exposure to PCBs with–
in fish, not acid rain. The greatest
threat to the life of an unboro is from
the parent or parents-often mar–
ried--choosing to abort.
The decision of whether or not to
have child re n shou ld be made
before
conception, not after.
Just "Fetal Tissue" ?
We are told that the unborn is "fe–
tal tissue" within the mother and
4
that the mother has the right to
control her body. We are told she
can do with her body as she
pleases.
Removing this "fetal tissue" is
essentially the same as having a
toot h pulled or a baircut, proabor–
tionists claim. A simple operation
that takes only a few minutes.
ls the unboro baby j ust part of her
body, like teeth, hair or a kidney?
lt's time we examined the Jatest
published evidence. By t ransferring
a fertilized ovum from one woman
to another we can establish that the
"fetal tissue" is not simply like a
kidney. Embryo transfer is much
more easi ly done than a t ransplant.
The body will reject a transplanted
organ unless prevented from doing
so by the continua! use of drugs.
Within the last 20
years, worldwide attitudes
toward abortion
have changed
so drastically that the
turn of events can
be likened to throwing
a light switch.
However, the body will not
reject an embryo. The embryo can
be t ransferred from one woman to
another, demonst rating the unique
separateness of the unborn from its
mother.
This is not to say that a baby is
not its mother's. After embryo
implantation into the uterus, the
woman provides the environment
for growth.
A new piece of evidence proving
the humanness of the unborn has
been found by study of brain
waves. By seven weeks, the unborn
child has its own measurable brain
waves. Brain waves are among the
legal criteria to determine whether
a person is alive or not.
How can we declare a 20-year–
old accident victim with a severe
head inju ry dead because no mea–
su ra bl e brain waves exist, but
maintain an unborn baby is not
alive when it
has
brain waves?
As one doctor stated a decade
ago, since brain death has become
the chief standard for deciding
when a person is dead, brain life, or
the point at which brain waves are
first detected, should determine the
viabil ity of a fetus.
When the doctor stated this,
scientific equipment could only
detect brain activity around .the sev–
enth and eighth
month.
T herefore it
was prematurely concluded that a
human fetus was not living until that
age! Since brain waves can now be
detected at seven
weeks,
doctors are
in fact aborting
living humans.
And
of course the fetus is already alive
before the seven weeks!
l f one has any doubt when a
human life begins, one should give
the baby the benefit of the doubt. As
U.S. President Ronald Reagan has
written,
"lf
you don't know whether
a body is alive or dead, you would
never bury it." The same criteria
should be used for the unborn.
Most abortionists try to draw the
line at viabi lity or self-sufficiency.
The fetus depends on the mother's
womb for life support. As long as the
unborn cannot survive apart from its
mother, they reason, then abortion
can be performed. ( In sorne cases, a
viable fetus is aborted and left to die
on a hospital table!)
Yet, adults sometimes depend
upon life support systems to remain
alive. Many people depend upon
kidney diaJysis machines to cleanse
their blood. Others depend upon
respirators to remain alive. Sorne
who turn these machines off are
being charged with murder. Just
because people depend on some–
thing else for life does not exclude
them from the human race.
Today many babies boro prema–
t!Jrely live, even sorne boro as young
as four and one half months.
Consíder thís: A woman rushes
to a hospital in labor. Within min–
utes she gives birtb to a 22-week–
old premature baby. Since the
mother
wants
the child, the hospi–
tal will do everything within its
power to save the life. Great sums
of money in health care may be
spent on the effort.
Now go down a corridor and into
another room. There a woman has
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The
PLAIN TRUTH