ABORTION: FROM WOMB TO TOMB

If there is any issue that has attracted more attention in the area of human and family life more than any other, abortion would arguably be it. This is resultant from the fact that it threatens the uniqueness and inviolability of human life. It is both an action directly opposed to all the values of life and rights of a human person. The abortion case far from being a social misdemeanor and moral aberration has taken a step further towards its perpetuation. More and more countries are beginning to vie for an abortion bill or law. Russia, United States, South Africa, Slovakia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Georgia and Kazistan are among top rating countries that have approved of abortion in the first two trimesters. Some other countries have approved of this for one trimester and some others approved on claimed justifiable reason(s). It has been difficult to compute an accurate statistics of abortion in particular countries because of many of the cases are unreported. However, in America alone, since 1973, 50 million induced abortions have been recorded. The abortion case is one that remains ever new. The million-dollar question is: are there any justifiable reasons for abortion to be done whatsoever? This question is to elastic, but the progression of our discussion would help draw the demarcation between when abortion could be possible or not.

UNDERSTANDING ABORTION
Abortion is defined in medical terms as any pregnancy that does not end in a live birth, and therefore can refer to a miscarriage or a premature birth that does not result in a live infant. Such events are often called spontaneous abortions if they occur before 20 weeks of gestation. In common parlance however, abortion is used to mean, “Induced abortion” of an embryo or fetus at any point in pregnancy (Cf. Wikipedia Encyclopedia, www.wikipedia.org). For the sake of clarity, Pregnancy takes place after fertilization, when a sperm unites with an oocyte. This is usually about 24 hours after intercourse. From this moment, the being is said to be highly organized, has the ability to respond to his or her environment, has the ability to adapt, and has the ability to reproduce (cell division). All these are essential elements of a living being. Therefore, from that point, human life has begun and the mother is carrying a human being. That being is both a human being and a human person and equally a subject of human rights and obligation like the mother. Therefore, the mother from that point could not violate that right. If she does, she is trampling on communal human rights.

Our definition of abortion above puts two grounds for abortion. The first, which is called spontaneous abortion also, accommodates what is called therapeutic abortion. This occurs when the termination of pregnancy becomes a collateral effect of a medical intervention on a pregnant woman. The direct death of the fetus is not the main intention for the medical intervention but its effect (cf. Justin Ekennia, Bio-Medical Ethics, p. 151). Today however, understanding of therapeutic abortion has been taken too far; a step in a wrong direction. Some physicians are wont to warp this understanding. They claim that any pregnancy terminated because of risk to the mother’s life, if allowed to progress to gestation, is purely medical. But this is not the correct understanding of therapeutic abortion. Therapeutic abortion is the product of an effect not a cause. It must be similarly pointed that any action on the mother that is done with the knowledge of a likely dangerous effect on the fetus, and afterwards, results in abortion is a willed and induced abortion. Again, we here wouldn’t want to go into the debate of what qualifies as danger to the mother. However, I wish to state that the term “unwanted pregnancy” is a misnomer. All sexual actions are open to procreation, so a decision to copulate is a decision to procreate and even if not a decision to copulate once a sexual action results in pregnancy, the right of the individuals cease. This being so, not even cases of rape, incest, madness, population control, economic conditions, genetic deformation, or even possible physical or mental abnormalities in the child, etc do not qualify or justify the termination of a pregnancy. The reasons being the uniqueness of the human person and the inalienable dignity and right the human person has. Abortion is an attempt to play God, which is an arrogation of right and breaking of the fifth commandment.

The conditions for abortion are often based on social reason. About 95% of abortion carried out are often induced but erroneously dragged into the realm of therapeutic abortion. One fact that must be established is that in discussing abortion as a moral error and sin, the right of the mother must be known is not superior to that of the child and that the mother has limited domination over the child, even though both vulnerable and handicapped. If killing a human being is wrong because he has a personal life, such argument holds true too for abortion. Speaking non-cosmetically, abortion is murder and every murder is a grave sin and punishable. The reasons against abortion are more solid than cases for abortion, at least speaking both from the points of view of the bible, logical reasoning and social foundations.

A SCRIPTURAL CASE AGAINST ABORTION
First, every human being is a unique creation in the image and likeness of God (cf. Gen 1: 27). The Psalmist talks of the dignity of the human person when he speaks in Psalm 8:5-7: “Lord, what is man that you care for him, mortal man that you keep him in mind?... with glory and honor you crowned him, giving him power over the works of your hands”. Thus, man is a being with dignity and this man is defined irrespective of his size, age or influence. The bible gives recognition too to the unborn child. God knows the preborn. The Psalmist decries: “You knit me in my mother’s womb…my frame was not hidden from thee, when I was being made in secret, intricately wrought in the depths of the earth. (Psalm 139: 13,15). Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations" is a testimony to God knowing the preborn child and recognizes and treats him as an independent being.

Also, abortion is a sin against justice. God is a God of justice and stands usually for the weak and oppressed. Abortion apart from being an act of murder is also a sin of oppression against the weak and defenseless. Ps 68:5 calls God, “Father of the fatherless and defender of the widow and orphan”. So, God fights for the fetuses who are helpless like he does for little children. He therefore, visits his wrath on all abortionists. In fact, the book of Apocalypse concludes by naming those who will not enter the kingdom. It reads: “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood” (Rev. 22: 14-15). The sin of abortion is such that blinds us from God and makes our prayers to be unheard. Hear what Prophet Isaiah says: “When you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood” (Isa 1:15). Abortion can be compared to the sin of child-sacrifice in scriptures and it was described as the major cause of the kingdom of Israel being dominated by the Assyrians and the Israelites taken to exile (cf. 2 Kings 17: 17-18). Prophet Amos similarly condemned the Ammonites because they ripped open pregnant women in Gilead (Amos 1:13)



OTHER WITNESSES AGAINST ABORTION
The typical mentality of a human being is not so much of what he has known in principle, but more on how such a principle affects him or her. If a law is promulgated and it has no penalty, that law is likely not to enjoy widespread obedience. Apart from the Scriptural reasons advanced against abortion as a moral evil and an offence that is both spiritually and for the most social culpable, there are effects on the perpetrator; the irresponsible mother; both short and long term effects.

Methods in abortion could be generally divided into three main patterns: (1) those that invade the uterus and kill the child by instruments which enter the uterus through the cervix, (2) those that kill the preborn child by administration of drugs and then induce labour and the delivery of a dead baby and (3) those that invade the uterus by abdominal surgery. The first general method has an adverse effect on the mother because of the technique. In this, the cervix is stretched open with dilators and cervical tools are used to invade the womb, normally a curette is inserted into the womb to kill the baby and bring out its particles. In some instances, a suction machine is used to extract the destroyed baby. The mother therefore from this common technique is likely to suffer some or all of the following: excessive bleeding, abdominal swelling, pelvic infection, uterine perforation, cervical tears, incomplete abortion and in extreme cases, death.

The use of mifepristone tablet and followed by misoprostol is another common method of abortion. In this medical method, the mifepristone causes the placenta to separate from the endometrium. It also softens the cervix and increases uterine contractions to allow the uterine contents to pass. The misoprostol is usually taken vaginally or bucally, hours later and this would further cause uterine contraction and make the pregnancy to end in a miscarriage. This technique is of adverse effect like the surgical method. Most abortifaciets taken usually wear off the uterine wall and often causes contragestion (the prevention of implantation of the blastocyst). Women who are used to taking contraceptive pill and who involve in medical abortion are prone to miscarriages in the future. They are equally very open to the risks of frequent uterine pain, excessive uterine bleeding, pelvic infection, ruptured ectopic pregnancy, incomplete abortion, vomiting, diarrhea, and in extreme cases death. (cf. the long term effects of abortion on women in www.the-gospel.org.). It is important to note that misoprostol can cause fetal abnormalities. There are other methods of abortion usually used within the second or third trimesters. These are often more dangerous with not very bright chances of survival for the mother without terminal adverse effect. This is why many countries that even erroneously pass a bill for abortion limit this to the first or second trimester.

One common fact about abortion is that women who engage in it are prone to breast cancer. Once pregnancy starts steroid hormones are more active especially oestrogen and progesterone. This is the reason why breast formation becomes rapid, preparing it for breast-feeding. The termination of a pregnancy causes a significant drop in the level of estrogen secreted in a woman’s body. This drop causes a rapid growth in the number of cells in the breast tissue. This cell multiplication, medical sources have advanced, increases the risk of getting breast cancer.

Ectopic pregnancy (pregnancy occurring on the fallopian tube) is a possible post-abortion effect, causing increased risk to the health of the mother and a possible death to the baby. Since abortion involves surgery, the ovaries, which are nearby organs, may have been affected. Again, infertility is a possible complication from an earlier abortion. Sexual dysfunction is similarly a likely effect from an earlier abortion. Women are likely to have a drop in sexual desire, orgasm, ability and satisfaction. This effect vary from woman to woman.

Apart from the physiological effects, there are also psychological effects, which are more likely to be immediate that the physiological that are long term. There is the feeling of guilt, shame and regret that may hunt the woman for a long time especially with sight of the abortion and the sight of terrible blood and pain that accompanies the surgery or process. This feeling can hunt them for so long that the woman either is moved to extreme regret, hating the male partner and even with threats to harm him or pushed to repentance and piety, which very often is not sustained. Once a non-Catholic girl had an abortion and she started shopping for a Catholic Priest to go for confessions. This was only an avenue to expel her pain and shut out the torments she receives. One common aftermath of such a psychological feeling is substance abuse. Young women especially adolescent girls are prone to taking pills to make them sleep off, drinking or abuse of other forms of drugs that could act like sedative.

Clinical psychology has developed a term with reference to the referred-to conditions that women often have with relation to abortion. This they have called “Post-Abortion Syndrome Disorder” (cf. http://www.cirtl.org/syndrome.htm). This disorder often starts with the usual guilt, pain, a sense of loss and the more typical part of this disorder is that it slumps the victim into lethargy (tiredness), malaise, vomiting and sometimes hallucination especially when remembering the action. This disorder very often leads to depression, complexes, fear of infertility and sex. This conditional is not often treated clinically. This stress disorder usually surfaces many years after abortion. It is very easy and common for a woman to say that she is fine but later she finds herself webbed in this terrible feeling of confusion, guilt and exploitation. This feeling sometimes comes either at the birth of a wanted child, during the desire for a child or during unrelated counseling. During this period of the stress disorder, the woman often have stressors, re-experience of the events, avoidance of things that would remind her of the experience, she then could begin to avoid people and relationships, avoid feeling love for others and becoming cold to people and situations. During this time, she feels just not good with herself and she considers ending her life and even has no long-term dreams or plans.

MAKING A PRO-LIFE OPTION
The effects of abortion are enormous. The intention of this paper is not to create a fright about abortion or magnify what abortion is not. However, I have gone into findings from scriptures, medicine and psychology to establish why abortion is not all right. Abortion is often an issue that bothers on choice and implications. The individuals often sit to weigh the implications of the pregnancy to one’s life, name, family, education, personality and even faith and one thinks it is just alright to make it quits and get it rid. Nevertheless, since human life is involved, it just does not end like that. It has a way of surfacing. The biggest lie about abortion is to think it is a once-and-for-all thing. Never! It keeps coming. Considering the effects of abortion, at the long run, it is all right to keep the baby. In doing this, one would have prevented being a murderer and even safeguarded chances of better procreation in the future. Since there are a number of dilemmas involved in abortion, then, it is best to avoid casual sex when one is not ready for procreation. This takes us to the A-B approach: Abstinence when unmarried and Be faithful when Married.

The woman must realize that she has a lot of stake to handle in the issue of abortion. She has the final word. She must therefore weigh the options and be firm in relationship, defining what is wanted from the beginning. Again, it seems as though from our discussion, the man has nothing about this. Men suffer from regret and pain too especially when met with misfortune or difficult situations in life. They are often hunted by the mistakes of their past. Deep inside of him, he gets to know, he collaborated in a murder. I wish to conclude with words of Scriptures which says: “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess” (Deut 30:15-16)