It's your choice, not mine. (Abortion)

Member Name: mattydalton

Product:	Abortion
Date:	18/07/02 (398 review reads)
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Before I start, I would like to apologise if I offend or upset anyone. That is not my intention. My intention is to outline what an abortion entails, and the different circumstances in which it can come about. If you are at all squeamish, maybe you should not read this opinion, it is not a pretty one, and could cause some distress. First off, I don't agree with abortion, but sometimes it can't be helped. Life is not always black and white, there are a lot of grey areas. Hopefully, by submitting this, I can give you some information that maybe you didn't know, and thus help you think properly about it.

Firstly, I will tell you about the stages of the baby's growth while inside the mothers stomach. 18-24 days after conception, the babys heart will begin beating. At this stage the mother will probably not even know that she is pregnant. At six weeks, the baby can move his arms and legs. Around the same time, a babys brain waves can be read, the heart beat is steady, the stomach is able to produce digestive juices and the liver can produce blood cells. After only six weeks, the baby is very developed.

Before a baby is born, it is surrounded by water in the amniotic sac. The baby, much like other animals, lives and breaths in the amniotic sac. At eight weeks from conception, the baby will open his/her mouth in order to drink the fluid. Experimentation has shown that by sweetening the fluid, the baby will drink more, and by making the solution more bitter, the baby will drink less. Tests have also shown that if a needle is placed into the sac and touches the baby, the baby feels pain and will immediately move away.

By the time the baby has reached eleven weeks. he/she can suck their thumb and has fingernails. Complex facial expressions can be made by the child, including smiling. The baby is further developed and is becoming more efficient in the amniotic sac. The placenta feeds the baby with all the oxygen and food that he/she r
equires. The baby further develops and by the sixteenth week can grasp things, swim in the sac and even perform somersaults. At this point the baby is only five and a half inches in size. It is obvious by this time that the baby is becoming more active, and by the eighteenth week, the only thing the baby has to do before it is ready to come out into the world is grow. The baby can now punch, kick and move more energetically. The mother cxan now feel the babys movements.

What does an abortion entail? How do they go about the procedure? At what stage does the procedure change?

If you are less than ten weeks pregnant, then the suction abortion procedure will be employed. To carry this out, a tube must be inserted into the uterus and must be connected to a suction machine. The power of the suction is so high that the baby is literally ripped to pieces and sucked into a jar. I have no idea what it would feel like, but I don't think it would be very comfortable, to say the least.

If you miss the ten week deadline, then the D&C abortion procedure is used.(I have no idea what the d and c stand for) This procedure can be used up until twelve weeks. In this instance, no suction is used. For this, a hook shaped knife must be inserted into the uterus. It is used to cut the baby into small segments. The forceps are then used to crush the babys head, allowing the removal of the baby through the narrow passage. After this is completed, it is necessary to completely scrape out the womb, with bleeding often profuse.

The third option is the prostaglandin abortion. Prostaglandin is a hormone drug which induces labour and premature birth. It is injected into the amniotic sac. In a lot of instances, the baby is actually born alive with his/her heart beating. The baby is simply put to one side and left to die.

The saline abortion is similar in procedure to the prostaglandin abortion, but sounds to me to be more distressing. A powerful salt
poison solution is injected into the amniotic sac through the stomach. In this instance, the baby has no alternative but to swallow the deadly solution. There is severe suffering for the baby. He/she will literally burn alive, skin peeling off throughout. All the while, the baby will kick and jerk vehemently. Between a day and two days later, the mother will then give birth to a dead baby.

The hysterotomy abortion also seems to be quite harsh. The abdomen is cut open, as it would be in a Cesarean section, and the baby is simply lifted out. The baby, in this instance will be moving, will sometimes cry, and will be fighting to breathe. Like in the prostaglandin abortion, the baby is then left to die.

For anybody considering having an abortion, it is not a pretty experience. In fact, it is a very ugly one, by the sounds of it. Not only is the procedure unpleasant, but there are often various side-effects, both physical and psychological. Physically, an abortion can prevent future pregnancies, making the mother sterile. Miscarriages, eptopic pregnancies and stillbirths can occur. Intense pain is sometimes experienced, along with blood clots, fever, peritonitus and possibly a perforated uterus. The trauma of the experience can also cause the mother to have a loss of appetite, inducing weight loss, as well as nausea. Nervous and frigidity can also be experienced.

Psychologically, there are many side-effects too. The obvious effects are the sense of loss felt along with guilt. Remorse is often felt, and future decision making can also become more difficult. Anger, despair and low self-esteem is commonplace, aswell as nightmares. The grief experienced as a result of an abortion is great, as the mother often feels like a killer.

In certain circumstances, abortion is the 'right' option. For instance, a pregnancy can occur as a result of rape, and nobody can blame the mother for feelings of hate towards the baby inside her. It is o
nly natural for the mother to want to get rid of the baby in this situation. At the other end of the scale is the promiscuous woman, who gets caught out. A baby has many implications on lifestyle, as it requires a lot of time, love and money. After reading Jill Murphy's opinion on this subject, my memory was triggered to the fact that some women are not healthy enough to have a baby, another time when abortion could be seen as the best answer. Whatever the reason for an abortion, the only person who can say whether it is right or wrong is the person with the baby inside of them. Nobody can tell that woman that she is wrong. It is her choice, nobody else's. As a civilised species, we should not judge. In summary, abortion is not a nice experience, although I'm sure everybody already knows this. It is one of the worst experiences in the world. However, sometimes it is the 'only' option, and who am I to deprive a woman the right to choose.

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