On Abortion

I apologize for nothing in this post. I will be stating facts; facts do not require apology.

The following link contains some surprising statistics on abortion in the United States. As stated in the article, "All abortion numbers are derived from pro-abortion sources."
http://www.abortionno.org/Resources/fastfacts.html
I will be quoting parts of the article below, but I do invite any readers to read the entire article.

The most pertinent sections from the above article:

Why women have abortions1% of all abortions occur because of rape or incest; 6% of abortions occur because of potential health problems regarding either the mother or child, and 93% of all abortions occur for social reasons (i.e. the child is unwanted or inconvenient).

At what gestational ages are abortions performed:52% of all abortions occur before the 9th week of pregnancy, 25% happen between the 9th & 10th week, 12% happen between the 11th and 12th week, 6% happen between the 13th & 15th week, 4% happen between the 16th & 20th week, and 1% of all abortions (16,450/yr.) happen after the 20th week of pregnancy.

Abortion coverage:48% of all abortion facilities provide services after the 12th week of pregnancy. 9 in 10 managed care plans routinely cover abortion or provide limited coverage. About 14% of all abortions in the United States are paid for with public funds, virtually all of which are state funds.

Now enough statistics. Now for some personal facts:

Personal Fact #1: I am pregnant.
Personal Fact #2: This pregnancy was planned. I know the exact date (within a 1-2-day margin of error) on which conception occurred.
Personal Fact #3: The following image is from the low-grade ultrasound my midwife performed in her office when I was just barely 10 weeks pregnant (sorry it's upside-down):

I will also note, in this ultrasound-- though of course it is not apparent in a photo-- I could see the embryo's heart beating. It was ALIVE.

Personal Fact #4: This next image is from an ultrasound done at barely 15 weeks:

Note, it already looks like a baby!

Now to re-quote some of the statistics with the above images in mind.

12%  [of abortions] happen between the 11th and 12th week, 6% happen between the 13th & 15th week, 4% happen between the 16th & 20th week, and 1% of all abortions (16,450/yr.) happen after the 20th week of pregnancy.

That means that at least 23% of abortions take place after the heart has already started beating! 4% happen between the 16th and 20th week (hmm, right before most pregnant women look forward to their first ultrasound to make sure the baby's healthy and to find out its gender).

I took a health class at our local college, and in the textbook we used is a section on abortion. It seemed fairly straightforward and non-biased, just stating the facts. Until I took a look at the pictures and got a little skeptical.

One picture illustrates the process of suction curettage, a procedure involving the gradual dilation of the cervix, then a suction cup is inserted into the cervix and the contents of the uterus are vacuumed out; finally, a spoon-shaped instrument called a curette, is used to check for complete removal. In the illustration, the amniotic sac looks much like my first ultrasound image, taken at 10 weeks after my last menstrual period. But suction curettage, according to the textbook, is typically done anywhere from 7 weeks to 13 weeks. 13 weeks is 3 weeks more than 10, and only 2 weeks less than 15, which is where I was when the second ultrasound image was taken. Which means, at 13 weeks-- the upper end of when suction curettage is routinely performed, the embryo/fetus is more likely to resemble the second image than it is the first. The heart is already beating, and limbs are fully formed, looking a lot more like a baby and a lot less like a mere "sac."

And there's the facts. Garner from them what you will.