The Sanctity of Human Life

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

 

According to a Harvard University study, the number of Planned Parenthood affiliates fell from 163 in 1994 to 91 in late 2009. More affiliates are expected to consolidate in the future. In 2007, Planned Parenthood affiliates killed 305,310 pre-born children, charging $400 for each and generating $122 million. Mauricio Roman, "Harvard Study: Planned Parenthood is an Abortion Business and Business is Bad," Life News, November 30, 2009.

The following stages of human development have been scientifically documented:

Day 1: fertilization unites all chromosomes and a unique human life begins.

Day 6: embryo begins implantation in the uterus; the heart begins to beat with the child’s own blood.

Week 3: the child’s backbone, spinal column and nervous system are forming; the liver, kidneys and intestines begin to take shape.

Week 5: eyes, legs and hands begin to develop.

Week 6: brain waves are detectable; mouth and lips are present; fingernails are forming.

Week 7: eyelids and toes form, nose is distinct; the baby is kicking and swimming.

Week 8: every organ is in place, bones begin to replace cartilage, fingerprints begin to form, the baby can hear sounds.

Weeks 9-10: teeth and fingernails are forming, the baby can turn his/her head, frown and hiccup.Week 11: the baby can “breathe” amniotic fluid, urinate, grasp objects placed in its hand, all organ systems are functioning; the baby has a skeletal structure, nerves and operating circulation system.

Week 12: the baby can feel pain, has nerves, spinal cord and thalamus, vocal cords are complete; the baby can suck its thumb.

Month 4: bone Marrow is forming; the baby is 8-10 inches in length and half of its birth weight.

Week 17: the baby can dream.

Week 20: the baby recognizes its mother’s voice.

G. Flanagan, Beginning Life: The Marvelous Journey from Conception to Birth (New York: DK Publishing Inc., 1996). Janet Hopson, “Fetal Psychology,” Psychology Today 31(5) (September/October 1998

 

Dr. Dianne Irving, a biomedical researcher and bioethicist, said: “When the 23 chromosomes of the sperm and the 23 chromosomes of the ovum are combined, a new, unique living individual with 46 chromosomes (the number and quantity specific for the human species) is formed. The chromosomal (genetic) make-up of the human embryo and fetus is different from the genetic identity of the mother or the father. Thus the human embryo or fetus is not only a human being, it is clearly not, scientifically, just a ‘blob’ of the mother’s tissues.”The Subcommittee on Separation of Powers, Report to Senate Judiciary Committee S-158, 97th Congress, First Session, 1981.

Human development is a continuous process that begins when an oocyte (ovum) from a female is fertilized by a spermatozoon (sperm) and ends at death. It is a process of growth and differentiation which transforms the zygote, a single cell, into a multi-cellular adult human being.K. Moore and T. Persaud, “The Developing Human;  Clinically Oriented Embryology,” W.B. Saunders Company; 6th edition (January 15, 1998), p. 1 

Dr. Hymie Gordon, co-founder and co-chair of the Program in Human Rights and Medicine at the University of Minnesota and founder and director of the Mayo Clinic’s world renowned program in medical genetics, said: “By all criteria of modern molecular biology, life is present from the moment of conception.”The Subcommittee on Separation of Powers, Report to Senate Judiciary Committee S-158, 97th Congress, First Session, 1981.

Dr. Landrum Shettles, who discovered male and female-producing sperm, said: “… I accept what is biologically manifest – that human life commences at the time of conception …”L. Shettles, “Rites of Life: The Scientific Evidence for Life Before Birth,” (Zondervan: 1983), p. 103.

The United States Congress was told by Harvard University Medical School’s Professor Micheline Matthews-Roth, “In biology and in medicine, it is an accepted fact that the life of any individual organism reproducing by sexual reproduction begins at conception....” She supported her evidence with references from more than 20 embryology and other medical textbooks that human life began at conception.The Subcommittee on Separation of Powers, Report to Senate Judiciary Committee S-158, 97th Congress, First Session, 1981.

Human embryo defined: “An organism in the earliest stage of development; in a man, from the time of conception to the end of the second month in the uterus.”I. Dox, et al. The Harper Collins Illustrated Medical Dictionary. New York: Harper Perennial, 1993, p. 146.

Dr. Hanna Söderberg, the lead author of a study, conducted interviews with women one year after their abortions. Her research team found that approximately 60 percent of the women in their sample of 854 women had experienced emotional distress after their abortions. This distress was classified as “severe,” warranting professional psychiatric attention, among 16 percent of the women. The research team noted that over 70 percent of the women stated that they would never consider an abortion again if they faced an unwanted pregnancy.H. Söderberg, C. Andersson, L. Janzon and N. Sjöberg. Selection bias in a study on how women experienced induced abortion. European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology andReproductive Biology 77 (1998): 67-70. H. Söderberg, L. Janzon N. Sjöberg. (1998). Emotional distress following induced abortion: A study of its incidence and determinants among abortees in Malmo, Sweden. European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology (1998): 173-178.

A 17-year study of women’s mortality in Finland determined that post-abortive women suffered significantly higher rates of death, accidents, suicides and homicides.M. Gissler, R.Kauppila, J.Merilainen, H.Toukomaa, E.Hemminki, “Pregnancy-associated deaths in Finland 1987-1994 — definition problems and benefits of record linkage,” Acta Obsetricia Gynecologica Scandinavica 76 (1997): 651-657.

 

Doctors have treated or reviewed records from the following complications resulting from abortions: retained products (parts of human fetus) with infection resulting in hysterectomy (surgical removal of female organs), retained products requiring D&C and antibiotic therapy (due to infection), late second trimester or early third trimester rupture of membranes due to instrumentation at an abortion center resulting in intrauterine fetal demise secondary to infection, hepatitis contracted after abortion, ectopic pregnancy after abortion resulting in adolescent’s death, retained products of conception resulting in passage of fetus several days after the attempted abortion procedure (i.e. the mother had to deliver her aborted child at home), uterine perforation (tearing) resulting in bowel injury requiring major surgery, bowel resection and long term gastro-intestinal debility in the patient, an RH negative patient who failed to be given rhogam prophylaxis after the abortion procedure due to error in their blood typing. (Subsequent children, if RH +, would be in serious danger), post-abortion infection resulting from the patient being put out on the street without transportation who was sexually assaulted the day of her abortion procedure, amputation of fetal limb with survival and delivery of fetus at term (this case was presented at the Armed Forces division of the American College of OB/GYN in 1973).List of Abortion Complications Seen Personally by an OB-GYN, Physicians for Life.

The leading causes of abortion-related maternal deaths within a week of the surgery are hemorrhage, infection, embolism, anesthesia and undiagnosed ectopic pregnancies.A. Kaunitz, “Causes of Maternal Mortality in the United States,” Obstetrics and Gynecology 65(5) (May 1985).

A significant elevation of risk of breast cancer was associated with a history of induced abortion.H.L. Howe, et al., “Early Abortion and Breast Cancer Risk Among Women Under Age 40,” International Journal of Epidemiology 18(2) (1989): 302.

Women with one abortion face a 2.3 relative risk of cervical cancer, compared to non-aborted women, and women with two or more abortions face a 4.92 relative risk. Similar elevated risks of ovarian and liver cancer have also been linked to single and multiple abortions. These increased cancer rates for post-aborted women are apparently linked to the unnatural disruption of the hormonal changes which accompany pregnancy and untreated cervical damage. “Abortion Facts and Your Concerns,” AAA Pregnancy Options.

Young teenagers undergoing abortions appeared to be more susceptible than older women to cervical injury.W. Cates, “The Risks Associated with Teenage Abortion,” New England Journal of Medicine 309(11) (1983): 612-624.

A study showed the occurrence of low birth rate was 1.4 times higher among the women whose first pregnancy had ended in abortion than among those who had delivered their first pregnancy. The rate of low birth rate weight was 1.6 times higher in the abortion group than among the women whose first pregnancy had ended in a live birth and who were seeking to carry their second pregnancy to term. Women whose first pregnancy had been terminated were 3.4 times more likely than were those whose first pregnancy had resulted in a live birth to have a mid-trimester spontaneous abortion during their second pregnancy.C. Hogue, W. Cates and C. Tietze, “Impact of Vacuum Aspiration Abortion on Future Childbearing: A Review,” Family Planning Perspectives 15(3) (May-June 1983).

Approximately 10 percent of women undergoing elective abortion will suffer immediate complications, of which approximately one-fifth are considered life threatening. The nine most common major complications which can occur at the time of an abortion are: infection, excessive bleeding, embolism, ripping or perforation of the uterus, anesthesia complications, convulsions, hemorrhage, cervical injury, and endo-toxic shock. The most common “minor” complications include: infection, bleeding, fever, second degree burns, chronic abdominal pain, vomiting, gastrointestinal disturbances and Rh sensitization.P.Frank, et al., “Induced Abortion Operations and Their Early Sequelae,” Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners (April 1985),35(73):175-180; Grimes and Cates, “Abortion: Methods and Complications”, Human Reproduction, 2nd ed., 796-813; M. A. Freedman, “Comparison of complication rates in first trimester abortions performed by physician assistants and physicians,” American Journal of Public Health, 76(5):550-554 (1986).

Among the sanitation hazards found in California abortion clinics were: instruments that were not sterilized, untrained people assisting in operations, a refusal to employ registered nurses or trained assistants, improper disposal of dead baby parts.P. Warrick, “Watching a watchdog,” Los Angeles Times, 31 January 31, 1993, pp. E1, E2.

Actress Jennifer O’Neill said: “Millions of men and women regret abortion. … Abortion hurts women and it hurts families. … They still say abortion is as simple as a trip to the dentist’s office. That’s when I say it’s my experience over their theory. … There is a good risk of depression, cancer, drug abuse, relational difficulties; abortion is not safe. Each year, there are 140,000 immediate medical needs after abortions. … Women have been pitted against their own babies. We’ve been sold a bill of goods that choice is an inalienable right.”D. Durband, (2005, April 10), Actress/Model Jennifer O’Neill’s Message to Arizona Women: Making Abortion Unthinkable, The Arizona Conservative. Get “In the Know”: Questions About Pregnancy, Contraception and Abortion.  Alan Guttmacher Institute.

Prior to her conversion to the pro-life position, Norma “Jane Roe” McCorvey worked at abortion clinics. She described the typical clinic as having plaster and light fixtures falling from the ceiling, rat droppings in the sinks, backed up sinks and blood splattered on the walls. Worst of all were the dead baby parts room where dismembered fetuses were stacked up for a week at a time, and the rooms were never cleaned up. Sanitary conditions were so bad that one abortionist worked shirtless and shoeless. Neither the procedures nor the risks were ever explained to the women. She said, “Veterinary clinics I have seen are cleaner and more regulated than the abortion clinics I worked in.”Affidavit of Norma McCorvey to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division, June 17, 2003. The Smoking Gun. S. Ertelt, McCorvey Asks Court to Overturn Roe Case, Life

Carol Everett, former owner of an abortion clinic, said: “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. I’ve seen sonograms with the baby pulling away from the instruments that are introduced into the vagina. And I’ve seen D&Es through 32 weeks done without the mother being put to sleep. Yes, they are very painful to the baby. But, yes they are very, very painful to the woman. I’ve seen six people hold a woman on the table while they did the abortion.”C. Everett, Former Abortion Provider and Clinic Owner.  Vanderbilt University Students for Life.

A 39-year-old woman in Phoenix, Arizona was hospitalized with complications from an abortion and had an emergency hysterectomy at St. Luke’s Medical Center.Actual Cases of Physical Damage from Legal Abortion. Physicians for Life. Christina Leonard and Jodie Snyder, “Another Botched abortion victim in Arizona,” Arizona Republic, 6 February 2001.

At a 2001 pro-life rally in Arizona, a post-abortive woman explained the circumstances of her abortion: “I had my abortion in 1974. When I went, I don’t remember anyone counseling me or asking me about my decision. I don’t remember anyone explaining to me what was about to happen. My recovery was very bad; I had a lot of pain and bleeding. I was hallucinating; regret was immediate. I wanted to die, and in a way I had. I exercised my right to choose, and I chose a dead baby. Now I get to live with that secret. I ended up in an abusive marriage. I tried drinking and drugs to numb the pain. I cried a lot, I was angry. My life had no value, no worth. Silence and secrecy kept me bound in shame for 25 years. Abortion hurts.”D. Durband, (2004), Arizona’s Women Deserve Better than Abortion. The Arizona Conservative.

An abortionist was convicted of manslaughter for botching the legal abortion of a 33-yearold who died in 1998 at the A-Z Women’s Center in Phoenix, Arizona. The woman hemorrhaged to death, becoming the second woman in three years to die at this doctor’s hands. The doctor had previously been censured for the first death. The clinic administrator refused to call 911 for four hours while the woman lie bleeding to death in the clinic. The owner/abortionist of the Women’s A to Z Center had previously been investigated for the deaths of two women, one only 15-years-old.(2000, October 22). Actual Cases of Physical Damage from Legal Abortion. Physicians for Life.

In the year 2000, 11 American women died as a result of complications from known legal induced abortion. No deaths were associated with known illegal abortion.L. Strauss, J. Herndon, J. Chang, W. Parker, S. Bowens, S. Zane, and C. Berg, “Abortion Surveillance — United States, 2001,” Division of Reproductive Health National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.

A Florida woman had both her legs amputated to stop gangrene related to her botched abortion. She died soon after.Actual Cases of Physical Damage from Legal Abortion.  Physicians for Life.

An Alabama mother of five was killed by an abortionist who knew before the legal abortion that she was at risk because of low hemoglobin levels.T. Wagner, (2001), Biskind trial shows abortion endangers women. Miami Herald, 7 February 2001

LIBERALS' EVALUATION OF ROE V. WADE

Kermit Roosevelt, of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, said: “[I]t is time to admit in public that, as an example of the practice of constitutional opinion writing, Roe“Shaky Basis for a Constitutional ‘Right’,” Washington Post, 22 January 2003 is a serious disappointment. You will be hard-pressed to find a constitutional law professor, even among those who support the idea of constitutional protection for the right to choose, who will embrace the opinion itself rather than the result. This is not surprising. As constitutional argument, Roe is barely coherent. The court pulled its fundamental right to choose more or less from the constitutional ether. It supported that right via a lengthy, but purposeless, cross-cultural historical review of abortion restrictions and a tidy but irrelevant refutation of the straw-man argument that a fetus is a constitutional ‘person’ entitled to the protection of the 14th Amendment.  

 Jeffrey Rosen, legal affairs editor of The New Republic“Worst Choice,” The New Republic, 24 February 2003., said:“Thirty years after Roe, the finest constitutional minds in the country still have not been able to produce a constitutional justification for striking down restrictions on early-term abortions that is substantially more convincing than Justice Harry Blackmun’s famously artless opinion itself.”

Laurence Tribe, a Harvard Law School professor, said, “One of the most curious things about Roeis that, behind its own verbal smokescreen, the substantive judgment on which it rests is nowhere to be found.”“The Supreme Court, 1972 Term -- Foreword: Toward a Model of Roles in the Due Process of Life and Law,” Harvard Law Review 87 (1973): 1, 7. 

Edward Lazarus was a law clerk to Harry Blackmun, the Supreme Court justice who wrote the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. Lazarus said: “As a matter of constitutional interpretation and judicial method, Roe“The Lingering Problems with Roe v. Wade, and Why the Recent Senate Hearings on Michael McConnell’s Nomination Only Underlined  Them,” FindLaw Legal Commentary, 3 October 2002. borders on the indefensible. I say this as someone utterly committed to the right to choose, as someone who believes such a right has grounding elsewhere in the Constitution instead of where Roeplaced it, and as someone who loved Roe’s author like a grandfather.” 

In 1985, eventual U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said: “Roe, I believe, would have been more acceptable as a judicial decision if it had not gone beyond a ruling on the extreme statute before the court. … Heavy-handed judicial intervention was difficult to justify and appears to have provoked, not resolved, conflict.”Ginsberg, Ruth Bader. 1985. "Some thoughts on autonomy and equality in relations to Roe v. Wade North Carolina Law Review 63:375.