Things EverybodyShould Know About

Abortion

In the ancient world abortion was frequently practiced by pagans and occasionally by Jews and Christians.

Reasons:

1. To conceal illicit sexual activity

2. To limit heirs (the wealthy)

3. To preserve feminine beauty

Types of Abortionin the ancient world

• Chemical– Pessaries– Poisons

• Mechanical– Binding or striking the abdomen– Spikes, blades and hooks

Oath of Hippocrates (400 BC)

“I swear by Apollo Physician, by Asclepius, by Health, by Panacea, and by all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will carry out, according to my ability and judgment, this oath and this indenture… I will use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgment, but never with a view to injury and wrong-doing. Neither will I administer a poison to anybody when asked to do so, nor will I suggest such a course. Similarly, I will not give to a woman a pessary to cause an abortion.”

Seneca praised his own mother for not having “crushed the hope of children that were being nurtured in her body.”

Seutonius records Domitian’s affair with his niece Julia. He forced her to abort her child by him, which resulted in her death.

Ovid: “The first one who thought of detaching from the womb the fetus forming in it deserved to die by her own weapons.”

Juvenal: “So great the skill, so powerful the drugs, of the abortionist, paid to murder mankind in the womb.”

Christianity

Pharmakeia is forbidden in the New Testament (Galatians 5:20; Revelation 9:21, 18:23, 21:8, and 22:15)

Translated either as sorceries or magic potions.

The poisons (pharmakeia) used in abortion and contraception were procured from a “pharmacist” or magician.

The Didache (110 AD)

The Didache’s list of prohibitions it includes: “murder, adultery, sodomy, fornication, theft, the use of magic and philters, infanticide and abortion.” Literally it declares: “…you shall not murder a child by abortion...”

It also says that the Way of Death is full of cursing, murders, adulteries, idolatries, robberies, and hypocrisies. It is also filled with people who are murderers of children.”

Clement of Alexandria (150-215 AD)

In The Tutor: “…for these women who, in order to hide their immorality, use abortive drugs which expel the matter completely dead, abort at the same time their own feelings.”

Athenagoras (150-200 AD)

To Marcus Aurelius: “What reason would we have to commit murder when we say that women who induce abortions are murderers, and will have to give an account of it to God? For the same person would not regard the fetus in the womb as a living thing and therefore an object of God’s care [and then kill it]… But we are altogether consistent in our conduct…”

Tertullian (160-240 AD)

In his Apology: “In our case, murder being once for all forbidden, we may not even destroy the fetus in the womb, while as yet the human being derives blood from other parts of the body for its sustenance. To hinder a birth is merely a speedier man-killing; nor does it matter whether you take away a life that is born, or destroy one that is coming to birth. That is a man which is going to be one; you have the fruit already in the seed.”

St. Ambrose (339-397 AD)

“The wealthy, in order that their inheritance may not be divided among several, deny in the very womb their own progeny. By use of parricidal mixtures they snuff out the fruit of their wombs in the genital organs themselves. In this way life is taken away before it is given… Who except man himself has taught us ways of repudiating children?”

St. Augustine (354-430 AD)

In De Nube et Concupiscentia: “Sometimes, indeed, this lustful cruelty, or if you please, cruel lust, resorts to such extravagant methods as to use poisonous drugs to secure barrenness; or else, if unsuccessful in this, to destroy the conceived seed by some means previous to birth, preferring that its offspring should rather perish than receive vitality; or if it was advancing to life within the womb, should be slain before it was born.”

St. John Chrysostom (347-407 AD)

“Why sow where the ground makes it its care to destroy the fruit? Where there are many efforts at abortion? Where there is murder before the birth? For even the harlot you do not let continue a mere harlot, but make her a murderer also. You see how drunkenness leads to whoredom, whoredom to adultery, adultery to murder, or rather to something even worse than murder. For I have no name to give it, since it does not take off the thing born, but prevents it being born…”

St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274 AD)

Abortion is always a grave moral evil against the natural law.

He believed that the soul did not enter the child until the 40th day for boys and the 80th day for girls. This meant that, for him, abortion was wrong, but not murder, until after “homonization” when the child received its human soul.

The American Medical Association

In the mid 1800’s, concern about women’s safety, falling birth rates, and indecent advertising, and the discovery of the real nature of conception, caused legal opinion to change. Led by Horation Robinson Storer, a Boston physician, the newly formed AMA (1847) began to lobby politically for the outlawing of abortion at any stage of gestation.

In the 20 years following, 31 states passed or amended their laws on abortion to protect pre-term infants at all stages of gestation.

Things begin to Change…

The American Law Institute (ALI) proposed, in its 1959 model criminal code for all the states, a "reform" abortion law. The model bill, approved by ALI in 1962, declared that abortion should be permitted for the physical or mental health of the mother, for fetal abnormality, and for rape or incest.

In June 1967, following the ALI model, the American Medical Association voted to change that body's long-standing opposition to abortion. With a new resolution, the AMA now condoned abortion for the life or health of the mother, for a baby's 'incapacitating' physical deformity or mental deficiency, or for cases of rape or incest.

In that same year state abortion laws began to change, but only after years of organized campaigns by pro-abortion forces.

Colorado, North Carolina, and California became the first states to adopt versions of the ALI "reform" abortion law.

By 1970, four states - New York, Alaska, Hawaii and Washington - passed laws that basically allowed abortion on demand. Of those four, New York's was the only law without a residency requirement and the state quickly became the nation's abortion capital.

Roe v. Wade

Norma McCorvey

Dallas District AttorneyHenry Wade

Roe v. Wade (1973)“Texas urges that, apart from the Fourteenth

Amendment, life begins at conception and is present throughout pregnancy, and that, therefore, the State has a compelling interest in protecting that life from and after conception. We need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins. When those trained in the respective disciplines of medicine, philosophy, and theology are unable to arrive at any consensus, the judiciary, at this point in the development of man's knowledge, is not in a position to speculate as to the answer.” (IX.B)

Roe v. Wade (1973)“Texas urges that, apart from the Fourteenth

Amendment, life begins at conception and is present throughout pregnancy, and that, therefore, the State has a compelling interest in protecting that life from and after conception. We need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins. When those trained in the respective disciplines of medicine, philosophy, and theology are unable to arrive at any consensus, the judiciary, at this point in the development of man's knowledge, is not in a position to speculate as to the answer.” (IX.B)

“With respect to the State's important and legitimate interest in potential life, the "compelling" point is at viability. This is so because the fetus then presumably has the capability of meaningful life outside the mother's womb. State regulation protective of fetal life after viability thus has both logical and biological justifications. If the State is interested in protecting fetal life after viability, it may go so far as to proscribe abortion during that period, except when it is necessary to preserve the life or health of the mother.” (X)

“With respect to the State's important and legitimate interest in potential life, the "compelling" point is at viability. This is so because the fetus then presumably has the capability of meaningful life outside the mother's womb. State regulation protective of fetal life after viability thus has both logical and biological justifications. If the State is interested in protecting fetal life after viability, it may go so far as to proscribe abortion during that period, except when it is necessary to preserve the life or health of the mother.” (X)

“With respect to the State's important and legitimate interest in potential life, the "compelling" point is at viability. This is so because the fetus then presumably has the capability of meaningful life outside the mother's womb. State regulation protective of fetal life after viability thus has both logical and biological justifications. If the State is interested in protecting fetal life after viability, it may go so far as to proscribe abortion during that period, except when it is necessary to preserve the life or health of the mother.” (X)

“In Doe v. Bolton, post, p. 179, procedural requirements contained in one of the modern abortion statutes are considered. That opinion and this one, of course, are to be read together.”

Doe v. Bolton

Sandra Cano Georgia State Attorney GeneralArthur K. Bolton

Doe v. Bolton

“We agree with the District Court, 319 F.Supp., at 1058, that the medical judgment may be exercised in the light of all factors -- physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman's age -- relevant to the well-being of the patient. All these factors may relate to health. This allows the attending physician the room he needs to make his best medical judgment. And it is room that operates for the benefit, not the disadvantage, of the pregnant woman.” (IV.C)

Doe v. Bolton

“We agree with the District Court, 319 F.Supp., at 1058, that the medical judgment may be exercised in the light of all factors -- physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman's age -- relevant to the well-being of the patient. All these factors may relate to health. This allows the attending physician the room he needs to make his best medical judgment. And it is room that operates for the benefit, not the disadvantage, of the pregnant woman.” (IV.C)

Gaudium et Spes: (1964) “Life must be safeguarded with extreme care from conception; abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes.”

Pope Paul VI: (1972)

The teaching of the Church on the issue of procured abortion “has not changed and is unchangeable.”

Catechism of the Catholic Church

#2270 “Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person—among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.”

Human Life Begins at Conception

In 1981 (April 23-24) a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee held hearings on the very question: When does human life begin? Following are testimonies from two of the doctors who testified:

Dr. Hymie Gordon, Chairman of the Department of Genetics at the Mayo Clinic, said: "By all the criteria of modern molecular biology, life is present from the moment of conception."

Dr. McCarthy de Mere, a medical doctor and law professor at the University of Tennessee, testified: "The exact moment of the beginning of personhood and of the human body is at the moment of conception."

Dr. Jerome Lejeune, known as "The Father of Modern Genetics," also testified that human life begins at conception before the Louisiana Legislature's House Committee on the Administration of Criminal Justice on June 7, 1990.

"At no time," Dr. Lejeune said, "is the human being a blob of protoplasm. As far as your nature is concerned, I see no difference between the early person that you were at conception and the late person which you are now. You were, and are, a human being."

Conception

The Emergency Contraception Pill, or morning after pill, is a pill that is available as a combination of estrogen-progestin, or progestin only. These are the exact same medications that are contained in normal, daily, birth control pills. They work to inhibit ovulation, fertilization, and implantation of the egg in the uterus. Emergency Contraception does not work if a fertilized egg has already implanted. The pill can be used within 72 hours of sex to prevent or stop a pregnancy.

“At least half of just over 3 million unintended pregnancies each year in the US result in abortions. Emergency Contraceptive Pills (ECP), taken after unprotected intercourse, provide a short, high dose of hormones. When taken within 72 hours of the exposure, they are 75% effective in preventing a pregnancy that would have otherwise occurred. Depending on when the ECPs are taken, they prevent ovulation, fertilization of the ovum, or block implantation into the uterine endometrium. ECPs are not an abortifacient and will not terminate or even interfere with an existing pregnancy.” (Univ. of New Mexico Medical Health Center Website)

Cell DivisionMoving down fallopian tube

Implantation (Day 5-6)

(Day 13)

Day 21

3.5 Weeks

At Four Weeks

• Embryo is 1/4 inch in length • Digestive system, backbone and spinal

cord begin to form • Placenta (sometimes called "afterbirth")

begins developing • The single fertilized egg is now 10,000

times larger than size at conception

Manual Vacuum Aspiration

Manual vacuum aspiration can be done up to 10 weeks. The cervix is dilated, and the child is suctioned out with a handheld syringe. If the child is not found within the removed tissue, the woman is tested for possible ectopic pregnancy. The procedure takes about ten minutes.

Development at Two Months

• Embryo is 1-1/8 inches in length

• Eyes, nose, lips, tongue, ears and teeth are forming

• Penis begins to appear in boys

• Embryo is moving, although the mother can not yet feel movement

Abortion Pill – Ru-486

• (1-8 weeks) It is an abortion inducing drug.

• Takes three office visits

• Has not been shown to be safe and may require a surgical procedure if it is incomplete

RU-486, or abortion pill, is a pill taken in combination with prostaglandin. Ru-486 is a high dose of mifepristone, which works to block the creation of progesterone, a hormone that is necessary to create and sustain pregnancy. This triggers the uterus to shed its lining and opens the cervix.

2-7 days later, misoprostol is given to cause the uterus to contract and expel the embryo. It can be used within 49 days since the last menstrual period as a medical abortion.

Development at Three Months• Fetus is 2 1/2 to 3 inches long • Weighs about 1/2 to 1 ounce • Nails start to develop and earlobes are formed • Fetus develops recognizable form • Arms, hands, fingers, legs, feet and toes are

fully formed • Eyes are almost fully developed • By this stage, a fetus has developed most of

his/her organs and tissues • Fetal heart rate can be heard at 10 weeks with

a special instrument called a Doppler

10 Perfect 10 Perfect ToesToes

11 Weeksafter

conception

Suction Curettage• The most common method at this stage• The vagina is washed with antiseptic• The cervix is shot with a painkiller• The cervix is dilated• A tube attached to a suction machine is

inserted into the uterus• The suction machine “empties the uterus,”

usually taking the child apart limb by limb• To make sure the child is gone, the walls of

the uterus are scraped with a metal loop

Development at Four Months• Fetus is 6 1/2 to 7 inches long • Weighs about 6 to 7 ounces • Fetus is developing reflexes such as sucking

and swallowing. Fetus may begin sucking his/her thumb

• Tooth buds are developing • Sweat glands are forming on palms and soles • Fingers and toes are well defined • Sex is identifiable • Skin is bright pink, transparent and covered

with soft, downy hair

Saline Injection

• A strong salt solution is injected into the mother’s womb.

• Baby dies a slow and painful death (2-24hrs)

• Mother delivers the dead baby

Development at Five Months

• Fetus is 8 to 10 inches long • Weighs about 1 pound • Hair begins to grow on his/her head • Soft woolly hair called lanugo will cover its

body (and some may remain until a week after birth when it is shed)

• Mother begins to feel fetal movement • Internal organs are maturing • Eyebrows, eyelids and eyelashes appear

Dilatation and Curettage

• Steel knife cuts baby away from mothers womb.

• Cuts baby into pieces.

• Removed by suction into jar for disposal.

Development at Six Months

• Fetus is 11 to 14 inches long

• Weighs about 1 3/4 to 2 pounds

• Eyelids begin to part and eyes open occasionally for short periods of time

• Skin is covered with protective coating called vernix

• Fetus is able to hiccup

Dilatation and Evacuation

• Tools are inserted into the Uterus

• This dismembers the baby’s body and crushes the skull

• The body parts removed with forceps

• There are strong indications that the baby experiences pain.

Development at Seven Months

• Fetus is 14 to 16 inches long • Weighs about 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 pounds • Taste buds have developed • Fat layers are forming • Organs are maturing • Skin is still wrinkled and red • If born at this time, he/she will be considered

a premature baby and require special care

Partial Birth Abortion• Baby is delivered

breech.

• Long hollow tube is inserted into the baby’s brain.

• Killing and delivering the baby at the same time.

Development at Eight Months

• Fetus is 16 1/2 to 18 inches long • Weighs about 4 to 6 pounds • Overall growth is rapid this month • Tremendous brain growth occurs at this time • Most body organs are now developed with

the exception of the lungs • Movements or "kicks" are strong enough to

be visible from the outside • Kidneys are mature • Skin is less wrinkled • Fingernails now extend beyond fingertips

Development at Nine Months

• Fetus is 19 to 20 inches long • Weighs about 7 to 7 1/2 pounds • The lungs are mature • Baby is now fully developed and can survive

outside the mother's body • Skin is pink and smooth • He/She settles down lower in the abdomen in

preparation for birth and may seem less active

Did you know?

• 1.6 million abortions each year in the United States alone. 55 million worldwide

• There are 4,400 abortions every day (one abortion every 20 seconds)

• 98% of abortions are caused because of socio-economic reasons. (not medical reasons)

An Overview of Abortion in the United States

Developed by Developed by

Physicians for Reproductive Choice and HealthPhysicians for Reproductive Choice and Health®® (PRCH)(PRCH) and The Alan Guttmacher Institute (and The Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGIAGI))

© January 2003© January 2003

PRCH & AGI 2003

Pregnancies in the United States(Approximately 6.3 Million Annually)

52%48%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

% o

f pr

egna

ncie

s

UnintendedIntended

Source: Henshaw, 1998 (1994 data)

PRCH & AGI 2003

Outcomes of Unintended Pregnancies(Approximately 3.0 Million Annually)

47%40%

13%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

% o

f u

nin

ten

ded

pre

gs.

Abortions Births Miscarriages

Source: Henshaw, 1998 (1994 data)

PRCH & AGI 2003

Incidence of Abortion

In 2000, 1.31 million pregnancies were terminated by In 2000, 1.31 million pregnancies were terminated by abortion in the United States.abortion in the United States.

Some 2.1% of all women aged 15–44 had an abortion in Some 2.1% of all women aged 15–44 had an abortion in 2000.2000.

Abortion is one of the most common surgical procedures in Abortion is one of the most common surgical procedures in the United States.the United States.

Source: Finer and Henshaw, 2003

PRCH & AGI 2003

Annual Number of Abortions Per 1,000 Women Aged 15–44

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Rat

e p

er 1

,000

Source: Finer and Henshaw, 2003

PRCH & AGI 2003

Abortion Rates in Western

Industrialized Countries

21.3 22.2

18.716.5 16.4 15.6

7.6 6.5

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Rat

e p

er 1

,000

UnitedStates(2000)

Australia Sweden Denmark Canada England& Wales

Germany Holland

Source: Henshaw et al., 1999 (1996 data)

Reasons for Abortions

PRCH & AGI 2003

Most Important Reason Given for Terminating an Unwanted Pregnancy

Inadequate finances 21%

Not ready for responsibility 21%

Woman’s life would be changed too much 16%

Problems with relationship; unmarried 12%

Too young; not mature enough 11%

Children are grown; woman has all she wants 8%

Fetus has possible health problem 3%

Woman has health problem 3%

Pregnancy caused by rape, incest 1%

Other 4%

Average number of reasons given 3.7

Source: Torres and Forrest, 1988 (1987 data)

Gestational Age

PRCH & AGI 2003

Abortions by Gestational Age(Weeks Since Last Menstrual Period)

57.6%

20.3%

10.2%6.2% 4.3%

1.5%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

% o

f ab

orti

ons

<9 9-10 11-12 13-15 16-20 21+Weeks

Source: Elam-Evans et al., 2002 (1999 data)

PRCH & AGI 2003

PRCH & AGI 2003

Deaths per 100,000 Abortions or Births

0.2 0.3 0.61.8

3.7

12.7

0.6

6.6

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Dea

ths

per

100

,000

<9 11-12 16-20 Births

Abortions by gestation

Source: Gold 1990 (1981–1985 data)

PRCH & AGI 2003

Percentage Distribution of Abortion Deaths

29%

18% 16%14%

23%

0%

10%

20%

30%

% o

f d

eath

s

Anesth

esia

Hemor

rhag

e

Infec

tion

Emboli

smOth

er

Source: Lawson et al., 1994 (1983–1987 data)

Stakes Study in Finland281 women who died within one year of their last

pregnancy:

Stakes Study in Finland281 women who died within one year of their last

pregnancy:

Stakes Study in Finland281 women who died within one year of their last

pregnancy:

Stakes Study in Finland281 women who died within one year of their last

pregnancy:

A study of 11,057 pregnancies showed…

“The 752 mothers who reported one or more induced abortions in the past were more likely, at the same interview, to report bleeding in each of the first 3 months of the present pregnancy. They were subsequently less likely to have a normal delivery and more of them needed a manual removal of the placenta or other intervention in the third stage of labor. In births following induced abortions, the relative risk of early neonatal death was doubled, while late neonatal deaths showed a 3- to 4-fold increase. There was a significant increase in the frequency of low birthweight, compared to births in which there was no history of previous abortion. There were increases in major and minor congenital malformations…”

The Lie“Repeating the big lie often

enough convinces the public. The number of women dying from illegal abortions was around 200-250 annually. The figure we constantly fed to the media was 10,000. These false figures took root in the consciousness of Americans, convincing many that we needed to crack the abortion law.”

Bernard Nathanson (Founder of NARAL)

The Lie“We systematically vilified the

Catholic Church and its ‘socially backward ideas’ and picked on the Catholic hierarchy as the villain in opposing abortion. This theme was played endlessly. We fed the media such lies as ‘we all know that opposition to abortion comes from the hierarchy and not from most Catholics…’”

Bernard Nathanson (Founder of NARAL)

Norma (Roe) McCorvey

“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.”

Sandra (Doe) Cano

“ I'm just now learning a lot of the details, and I'm really shocked, abortion is against every belief I have. I've never been for abortion. I never went for an abortion. I was not the person they say I was. This case was based on lies."

Carol Everett

“I cannot tell you one thing that happens in an abortion clinic that is not a lie. I've never been able to come up with the words to describe the abortion procedure. There are no words to describe how bad it really is. It kills the baby.”

Former Abortion Clinic Owner

Ron FitzsimmonsExecutive Director National Coalition of Abortion Providers

Regarding his testimony in well-publicized interviews about the frequency of partial –birth abortions:

"[I] lied through my teeth. In the vast majority of cases, the procedure is performed on a healthy mother with a healthy fetus that is 20 weeks or more along…”

“

PRCH & AGI 2003

For the Mothers

• Gabriel Project: for help with pregnancy

• Project Rachel: for women who have had an abortion

• Birthright, Catholic Charities, for both• Light House: For young women

who have chosen to have their babies