What Tips the Domino
Situations rise. Complications occur. There seems to only be one thinkable option left--abortion. There are teenagers who ran into sex too carelessly, adults who are not ready for the commitment, parents who don’t know how to raise a special needs child, women who are faced with choosing between their lives or their child's, and girls who have been assaulted. Those are the causes or reasons one might choose the gruesome termination of a newly conceived life, but what about after the fact? What happens after the doctor goes in and starts the procedure that legally ends a beating heart? What are the effects of abortion? People like to believe there are a lot of grey areas in life, things that just can’t be pinned down. However most of the time the things associated with grey areas are clearly black or white. Effects of abortion is one of them. It’s not a pleasant thing, but the hope is life eventually goes back to how it previously was. However, the results usually don’t support that hope.
There are obvious effects that people may expect. For example, the woman in question will no longer be pregnant. However, effects of abortion are more complicated than that simple answer, and span much wider than to just the mother. The fetus, or baby, is affected. Some may assume they are about to read a radical claim that a baby is murdered. This is not necessarily false. However, there are reliable sources on how an abortion affects the fetus. A future for that little beating heart is gone. Poof! Vanished. People don’t like to think of it like that. A rationale behind abortion according to Valerie Tarico / Salon at Alternet.org is; “I’m pro-abortion because I think morality is about the well-being of sentient beings.” (Tarico) The definition of sentient is “able to perceive or feel things.”(Google) Some people don’t believe they are taking a life because the fetus is not really human, it’s not a “sentient being”, it can’t perceive or feel things. However, When asked the question “Does the baby feel pain during an abortion?” Dr. Beverly McMillan, an obstetrician and gynecologist, and an expert on abortion said she does not deny the claim. She said “From six weeks the baby has sensation around its face and mouth. At seven weeks the baby can feel a needle stick and draw back. Even at that time if you put a little probe or instrument in the baby's hand it will curl up its hand around it, so it feels things.” (McMillan) According to that statement the “fetus” is already halfway there to becoming a sentiment being. What about the other half? The definition of perceive is “become aware or conscious of (something); come to realize or understand.” (Google) Dictionary synonyms include recognize and distinguish, all of which fetuses can do. In an article found on sciencemag.org “As a fetus grows inside a mother's belly, it can hear sounds from the outside world—and can understand them well enough to retain memories of them after birth, according to new research.” This displays that fetuses can perceive, they can recognize, they can distinguish, they can feel things. Therefore, according to pro-abortion writer Valerie Tarico / Salon, beings with those properties are sentient beings and morality has to do with the well-being of them. Which means we should be concerned with the effects of abortion since it not only ends their life, but ends it painfully as common abortions call for dismemberment, and in some procedures, partial birth and crushing of the skull. (pmaf.org) (americanpregnancy.org)
As already stated, the effects to the fetus are terminal. However, there are also physical effects to the mother that may include fatality. An abortion is not a procedure that just happens and the patient is immediately back to normal. According to AmericanPregnancy.org common side effects can last 2-4 weeks after the procedure. (AmericanPregnancy.org) These mild, common, side effects range from abdominal pain, cramping, vomiting, and bleeding. Less common, but more severe side effects are experienced in 1 in 100 first trimester abortions and 1 in 50 late term abortions. (AmericanPregnancy.org) These side effects include cervical and uterus problems, including cervical cancer. Those effects can complicate future wanted pregnancies by having increased chances of miscarriage and premature birth. Abortions can also lead to infertility. Also, infections such as sepsis, a potentially life threatening infection can occur. Sepsis is not the only way women die as a result from abortion procedures. Women who have abortions are four times as likely to die in the next year of their life, and 58 percent more likely to die during childbirth.(AfterAbortion.org) However, physical effects of abortion may be nothing compared to the psychological effects.
Regret, anger, guilt, loneliness, low self esteem, insomnia, nightmares, suicidal thoughts, depression, and anxiety are all common emotional side effects after abortion. (AmericanPregnancy.org) A testimony about an abortion experience revealed these symptoms aren’t usually temporary. “ I felt like I couldn’t talk about it, and that I should just get over the feelings of regret and depression. I was sure it would go away soon. Weeks turned into months of regret. Months turned into years. It is the elephant in the room to this day.” (Elizabeth) There are a ton more testimonies about abortion years and decades after the abortion. People with depression feel empty. They are hopeless and feel helpless. (WebMD) People with anxiety have this feeling of dread and fear. They anticipate the worst and are prone to anxiety attacks. The anxiety attacks aren’t pleasant. For some their chest feels like it's getting squeezed to stop the oxygen from flowing in. Their heart race increases, stomach goes into knots, and they hyperventilate as their muscles become weaker. ((HelpGuide.org) Sleep is a time that is meant for your body to relax and rest. However, when you have insomnia or nightmares that is a luxury they cannot afford. Then there are suicidal thoughts. When someone comes to the point in their life when they feel they are so worthless, or are in so much pain that the only alternative is to stop their own beating heart, that is truly a horrible feeling. These emotional feelings do not only affect the mother. The fetus’ father also suffered a loss. A child that could have came into this world because they share the same flesh and bone but didn’t is still their child. It still hurts, as portrayed by a testimony of a father to an aborted baby. “I was just numbed by the procedure and hurting inside. I wanted so much to say something, anything, to make it stop. I hurt so bad inside, and I had nobody to talk to.” (Fred) It’s the woman’s choice, the woman’s body, the woman’s well being, yet the man was effected.
Maybe the man is effected because it wasn’t about the woman’s choice, or the woman’s body, or the woman’s well being. Maybe it was because it was about that baby,
that growing life inside of her that wasn’t just her’s, but his, and the world's. The effects of abortions can not even be number because the world does not know who it missed. What if that beating heart that just ceased to beat again was going to be the president who brought world peace? What if that “fetus” was going to be the scientist who made the breakthrough to discovering how to reverse global warming? What if that baby was going to grow up to be the love of your life, and the parent to your children? What if they were going to be that role model that made all the difference in a troubled youths life? The world will never really know the effects of abortion, because how can the world measure what it will never be able to find out? The world may have missed something, but the parents missed holding their child's hand, and kissing it’s newborn cheek. They missed first steps, the first day of school, and last day of being chauffeured. It is not just the biological parents. The choices are not abortion or keep the baby. If someone does not want to keep the child, they aren’t between a rock and a hard place. There are safe haven laws, and adoption centers with parents eagerly waiting for a child to call their own. Their hearts are broken as a child that could have been that missing piece to their family, ceased to exist. It’s not just the mother, it’s not just the fetus, it’s not just anyone who will feel the effects of abortion. It could be everyone.
Causes for abortion a numerous. However effects of abortions are countless. When the doctor goes in and begins that first step to having human life disappear, the effects are dominos waiting to fall afterwards. Its effects are way more expansive than just the fetus or just the mother. The effects are physically painful, and emotionally damaging. One after another, the dominoes fall. It will never be known on earth how many or how long. The decision to choose abortion is a huge one. It should not be taken lightly and all the information on alternatives and effects should be taken into consideration. That little glob of cells is not so little when the consequences and effects are pointed out. The ten little fingers and tiny little hands hold the effects of so many lives.
Bibliography
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Elizabeth. "Silent No More Awareness Campaign: Living with the Consequences." Silent No More Awareness Campaign. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 May 2016.
Fred. "Silent No More Awareness Campaign: A Non-Person." Silent No More Awareness Campaign. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 May 2016.
"Possible Physical Side Effects After Abortion." American Pregnancy Association. N.p., 2012. Web. 24 May 2016. .
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"Surgical Abortion Procedures: Types, Side Effects and Risks." American Pregnancy Association. N.p., 2012. Web. 24 May 2016. .