The Gift of Life

Franchetta Groves, Grade 9

Whatever you do not do for the least of others you did not do for me. (Matthew 25:45)These are the words Jesus spoke and they speak directly about protecting the innocent. Failureto protect babies in the case of abortion is failure to protect the innocent and vulnerable. Howhave we become a society that no longer cares for the weak and the innocent? The womb issupposed to be the safest place in the world, now it has become one of the most dangerous. Ifyou were born after 1973, the year abortion was legalized, you are a survivor of the genocidehappening in our world right now. If we do not care for the unborn than we are a culture thatembraces death and sin, and it is our duty to end this sin before it hurts our world

At just three weeks old, an unborn child’s heart starts beating and his or her eyes develop. In only six weeks an unborn baby’s skeleton is complete and brain waves develop. Most abortions are performed at 12 weeks, past the time in which a baby starts to suck his or her thumb and learn to swallow. It’s obvious that at this point the child is starting to develop and is not just a sack of cells. Abortion is not only inhumane because it takes the life of an innocent but it is also brutal practice. In the last three months of a pregnancy a surgical incision is made in the womb. Then the umbilical cord is cut leaving the baby without oxygen and to suffocate. Sometimes, though, the baby is delivered alive and is left unattended to die. Any time before this the baby’s body is taken out by forceps piece by piece. Abortion is notsomething that is okay in any circumstance. Killing a life is never the answer.

Many People argue that abortion is the answer in cases of rape, incest, or unwanted pregnancy. The answer to this issue is not to kill the child. There are many physical problems that come along with having an abortion. A woman puts herself at risk of heavy bleeding, infection, and an incomplete abortion, damage to internal organs and even death. Abortions also put mothers at a higher risk for breast, cervical, liver, and ovarian cancer. Worse than the Physical consequences are the many mental and emotional consequences that women suffer from. Women who have had an abortion are likely to have an eating disorder, relationship troubles, and guilt, depression, flashbacks of their abortion, suicidal thoughts, sexual dysfunction, and substance abuse (Guttmacher, 12). There are many pregnancies services that help women through motherhood before and after the baby is born and to argue that abortion is to help women is inaccurate due to all the medical, mental, and emotional consequences it

Mother Teresa once said, “We must not be surprised when we hear of murders, of killings, of war, of hatred. If a mother can kill her own child what is left but for us to kill each other?”(Faithful Catholics) If we allow ourselves to fall into an anti-life culture, we are falling into a selfish culture. We are creating a culture where we don’t take responsibility for our actions and choose death over God’s greatest gift of life. Life is a gift and a right that all of us deserve to have. We shouldn’t be telling women to have abortions to solve their problems. We should be helping them raise their child and become responsible young women who are able and capable of caring for their child. If the mother is not able to have her child the child should be placed into adoption where he or she will be put into a family who wants to raise them. To tell a woman that she should have an abortion is not empowering to her; it is telling her that she is not able or strong enough to have this child.

Abortion is something that we must end to help save this world. It hurts the women who have abortion, it hurts the family, and most of all it takes away the innocent life. It never solves the problem; it only creates one. Becoming a culture that embraces abortion is terrifying because it means we’ve become a culture that is immune to killing. Children are the most beautiful gift in life. As Mother Teresa said, “How can there be too many children? That is like saying there are too many flowers.” (LiveAction.org)

Sources Used

Just the Stats! Pro-life Federation. Harrisburg, PA.

Guttmacher, Alan. Abortion Facts. Students for life of America.

http://studentsforlife.org/prolifefacts/abortion-facts.

Faithful Catholics. https://sites.google.com/site/faithfulcatholics/Home/pro-life- quotations-of-mother-teresa

http://weshughes.com/quote/pro-life- quotes-mother- teresa.php