Editor,
In their respective letters to the editor, Betty Blackburn and Kysten Diener tell us how society is better because we have unfettered abortion, offering arguments that ignore the fundamental issue: Abortion kills a baby.
The straw-man arguments are the slogans and mantras that ignore this basic truth. Often statements or actions are attributed to noteworthy people to distract from the basic fact of what an abortion does. Some of the statements offered are not factual, regardless of who said them. Abortion was legal in Arizona in 1955, but only if necessary to save the life of the mother - not because it was inconvenient to be pregnant. Today, about 3 percent of abortions occur because of a threat to the life of a mother-to-be or because the pregnancy resulted from rape.
Back-alley abortions caused about twice the number of deaths as legal abortions do today. The word "fetus" is a medical term used by abortion-rights people to remove the word "baby" from the discussion, which is a distraction from the fact: She is pregnant with a baby. Medical terms simply describe the stage of development.
Most abortions occur after the baby has a discernable heartbeat - 22 days after conception. Many occur after measurable brain activity occurs as demonstrated by MRI and light simulation. People who have seen the National Geographic series on fetal development must conclude what every biology student knows: A new life begins at conception. People seeing that photography know that early-term babies are moving their developing limbs. We see the unborn sucking their thumbs, reacting to stimuli, hiccupping and more. British studies clearly demonstrate aborted babies feel pain.
I am not telling a woman what to do with her body, Blackburn. I am asking why should she be able to take the life of an unborn child. If life is so awful for kids who had a hard childhood, Diener, why aren't they choosing post-birth death as adults? I noticed that neither of you speaks for the baby, just for your position that maintains it is OK to end his or her life.
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Our society has seen a change in the quality of life for women who have abortions. Studies show a significant increase in mental health problems post-abortion, inability to carry a pregnancy to term, sterility, medical complications and death during legal abortions. If we really care about teen girls and adult women, why would we subject them to these problems that do not exist when the pregnancy goes to term?
Philip Howell
Daily Lobo reader
