Here's some info from both sides of the abortion issue. Only an intelligent, patriotic, fair-minded and insightful individual commonly known as a Democrat would post both sides on this thread!!! LOL
How often: In the United States, women choose to end about 25% of their pregnancies through abortion. 1 This number has been gradually declining since 1979. This is similar to the Canadian figure of 21%, 2 but is much lower than that of the former Soviet Union (60%) and Romania (78%) where contraceptives are in short supply.
Opposing beliefs: A social consensus exists that when human personhood starts, that the person must be protected. Many religions, organizations and individuals have passionately held but conflicting beliefs about when this happens. This naturally leads to opposing policies on whether a woman should have access to abortion.
In spite of what the media might say, this struggle cannot be reduced to a simple pro-choice vs. pro-life conflict. There are people within each "side" who take many slightly different positions. To most pro-lifers, human personhood begins at the instant of conception. Thus, they see an abortion clinic as the ethical equivalent of a Nazi death camp.
To pro-choicers, human personhood begins later in gestation or at birth. Carl Sagan wrote a reasoned justification for this position. 4 Abortion as a civil rights matter -- a decision that should be left up to an informed woman and her physician.
The objectives of both groups are the same: to reduce the number of abortions, and to make any needed abortions safe. However, they have very different methods of achieving their goals, and they have divergent beliefs about which abortions are justifiable. They are thus unable to cooperate. That is, in our opinion, a pity. With the energy, knowledge and ability that each side has, they could make major reductions in the abortion rate if they were able to collaborate.
Status: In the U.S., the pro-life and pro-choice movements are both powerful and active. Pro-life groups are very active at the state level and have successfully influenced legislators and governors into creating many laws that restrict abortion. Many of the laws have been ineffectual; they are so broadly worded that they are usually declared unconstitutional shortly after having been signed into law. Those laws which survive are not particularly effective; they often merely deflect abortion seekers to nearby states. At this time, compromise between pro-life and pro-choice supporters appears to be impossible.
In Canada, the pro-life movement has lost most of its funding after some groups adopted a policy of harassing abortion providers' homes and those of their neighbors. During the late 1990's, two Canadian pro-life groups lost their charitable status with Revenue Canada. Attendance at abortion protests now fail to attract large numbers of supporters. The groups now do little more than conduct candlelight vigils, and issue press releases. With the exception of news about a lone, anti-abortion, November 11th assassin, abortion rarely is discussed in the media. The country does not even have a law to regulate abortions. However, with the selection in mid-2000 of Stockwell Day, a Christian Fundamentalist, to head the far-right Alliance Party, Canadian pro-lifer's have been reinvigorated.
Terminology: Various pro-life and pro-choice groups have different definitions for words such as pregnancy, human life, personhood, abortion, etc. For example, pro-life groups refer to a D&X (Dilate and Extract) prodecure as a PBA (Partial Birth Abortion.) This causes immense confusion. We will use the generally accepted medical definitions in this series of essays.
Topics Covered in This Section
Basic Facts about pregnancy and abortion:
THE KEY QUESTION: When does human personhood start?
Misc. abortion information: (abortion data, trends, RU-486 pill, increased abortion among women on welfare, abortion for genetic reasons, etc.)
Glossary of abortion terms - the use of words by pro-life, pro-choice and medical groups
Stages of development from ovum & sperm to newborn baby
Can a fetus feel pain?
Do contraceptives cause abortions?
Religious/ethical aspects:
What does the Bible say about abortion?
Christian beliefs on abortion
Jewish beliefs on abortion
Ethical beliefs on abortion that are neither pro-choice nor pro-life
Fetal vs. woman's rights
Abortion protests
Abortion clinic violence and harassment
Public opinion:
What are American public opinions on abortion?
Laws concerning abortion and abortion clinics:
Laws restricting abortion
The "FACE" law
Use of the RICO laws against Pro-Life Groups
Parental notification and consent laws
Interstate travel to abortion clinics
The "Born-alive Infants Protection Act"
Methods of preventing pregnancy:
Contraceptive methods
Emergency contraception (a.k.a. the morning-after pill) Wal-Mart's refusal to sell this medication
Methods of terminating a pregnancy:
Non-surgical, medically induced abortions (up to about 5 weeks gestation)
Manual vacuum aspiration (from about 3 to about 6 weeks gestation)
RU-486 abortion pill (up to about 7 weeks gestation)
Surgical abortions (about 5 weeks gestation and later)
D&X (a.k.a. Partial Birth Abortion) (very rare; usually restricted for emergencies late in gestation)
Possible links between abortions and subsequent medical problems:
Breast cancer
Infertility
Miscarriage
Post abortion syndrome (PAS)
Misc. Items:
Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis
Genetic termination of pregnancies
Embryo and stem cell research
Recent news about abortion
Information Sources:
How to get help if you have a crisis pregnancy
Abortion information resources
Books on abortion for personal study:
We maintain listing of books on abortion, sorted by topic. Each has a hyperlink to amazon.com so you can order a book safely, via the Internet. We have found that they give excellent service.
Other interesting essays on this site:
If you found this essay to be worthwhile, you might find some of these others of interest: Christianity, death penalty, doomsday cults, female genital mutilation, homosexuality, human cloning, physician assisted suicide, nudism, the current religious wars and conflicts and Witchcraft (Wicca) These are the most popular essays on our web site.
We are included in HitBOX's list of top 1000 Internet web sites dealing with medical topics.
References:
American statistics are listed by Baptists for Life, Inc. at: bfl.org
Canadian statistics are listed by Action Life (Ottawa) Inc. at: ncf.carleton.ca
Bob Enyart is an extremely conservative talk show host. He has a "Bob Enyart Live Abortion Clock" on his web site. It lists the total number of legal abortions that have been performed since 1973. See: enyart.com
Carl Sagan, "Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium: Chapter 15" Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store Chapter 15 has been reprinted at: 2think.org
See our news feed on women's issues. It shows 20 current news items, and is updated every 15 minutes.
Copyright © 1996 to 2000 incl. by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally published: 1996-DEC-20
Last updated 2000-AUG-21
Author: Bruce A Robinson
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