Abortion Misinformation?

I came across this site http://www.optionline.org/abortion.html from a friend (I am not pregnant nor have I ever been) and I think a lot of it is crap. I think it is an antichoice site trying to scare and guilt women into not having abortions. Tell me what you think.

 

so far as the abortion procedures are explained, i didn't see anything incorrect. there ARE risks involved with all medications and surgical procedures. that's just how it is. one should weigh all the information and not do anything blindly, i think.

 

The immediate risks are actually accurate, but they're presented in a way that makes abortion sound worse than it actually is. Most of the complications can happen with any surgical procedure, not only abortion, and almost all of them can happen with a normal pregnancy.

The emotional problems risk is overplayed. Anti-choicers tend to act as if everyone who gets an abortion is suddenly going to be a suicidal wreck, which isn't the case.

The breast cancer thing isn't true, although it's a common myth.

The morning after pill does not induce abortion.

It's deceptive, but the only thing I actually find insulting about that website is that they're really jumping through hoops to look like a fair-and-balanced, unbiased source, which they obviously are not. They don't mention they're a faith-based group until later, when they mention "your relationship with God" as a risk.

 

well, they're obviously appealing to people who believe in god in the judeo christian sense. this is a viable argument, in my opinion, because there are many who DO believe and WILL have this concern. this is fair, i think, and should be considered and presented. if you don't believe in god, this is not a problem.

 

Thank you Arrow! I have been saying that the morning after pill is NOT an abortive. The fertilized egg must have implanted in the uterus to be considered a pregnancy, and the morning after pill prevents that from happening. A fertilized egg does not mean pregnancy! Many women have fertilized eggs that just pass out of their bodies during periods and they don't know. I HATE when people confuse birth control with abortives!!!

peace and love

 

That morning after pill thing was the first red flag. Morning after pill is NOT an abortion. They really are trying to look legit.

 

By the time of implantation, you no longer have a "fertilized egg" but a developing human embryo that has grown hundredfold in the week since conception. This might pose no ethical problem for any of you, but women who view blocked implantation as early abortion have a right to know about this possible effect of the "morning after" pill.

As for abortion and breast cancer, there's still plenty of debate on that. It shouldn't be dismissed without consideration:

http://www.abortionbreastcancer.com/start/

 

Once again, the morning after pill prevents implantation. No implantation = no pregnancy.

peace and love

 

Here's a couple links with more info:

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/sex_relationships/facts/morningafterpill.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morning-after_pill

The pill works by affecting the lining of the uterus, causing the fertilized egg not to implant, or by preventing ovulation. It is very similar to birth control pills, when considering the active ingredients. Please don't confuse it with the abortion pill, RU 486. There is a BIG difference.

Peace and love

 

There's no disagreement here.

First, this is very debatable. Do a web search on "early pregnancy factor."

Second, even if "pregnancy" is defined to begin at implantation, the life of the new human embryo clearly begins at conception.

As I said before, "fertilized egg" is an atrocious misnomer for a 1-week-old developing human embryo that has grown by orders of magnitude from the time of conception.

True, but the dosage and timing are very different, increasing the likelihood of a post-conception affect.

Agreed.

 

Every doctor that I've ever talked to refers to implantation as the beginning of pregnancy. Here's some links: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jun99/wilcox2.htm

http://www.pprsr.org/justforteens/howdoespregnancyhappen.cfm

Sure, I know Catholics believe that pregnancy begins at conception, but this is not the medical opinion. They also believe that condoms are a sin, so I hardly give them any credit when it comes to real medical issues.

Peace and love

 

All abortions, however, occurr after implantation (or almost all of them).

 

It isn't an abortion if implantation hasn't occurred. Preventing implantation or preventing sperm from entering the egg is NOT abortion. ALL abortions take place AFTER implantation.

 

The morning after pill must be taken within 72 hours or it is not effective.

peace and love

 

"It is the penetration of the ovum by a spermatozoa and the resulting mingling of the chromosomal material each brings to the union that culminates the process of fertilization and initiates the life of a new individual. Every one of the higher animals starts life as a single cell the fertilized ovum. The union of two such sex cells to form a zygote constitutes the process of fertilization and initiates the life of a new individual."
Bradley M. Patten, M.D. (3rd Edition, 1968), New York City: McGraw-Hill.

"The formation, maturation and meeting of a male and female sex cell are all preliminary to their actual union into a combined cell, or zygote, which definitely marks the beginning of a new individual."
Leslie Arey. (7th Edition, 1974). Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Publishers.

"Zygote. This cell results from fertilization of an oocyte by a sperm and is the beginning of a human being ... Development begins at fertilization, when a sperm unites with an oocyte to form a zygote. Each of us started life as a cell called a zygote."
K.L. Moore. (2nd Ed., 1977). Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Publishers. Pages 1 and 12.

"The term conception refers to the union of the male and female pronuclear elements of procreation from which a new living being develops. It is synonymous with the terms fecundation, impregnation, and fertilization ... The zygote thus formed represents the beginning of a new life."
J.P. Greenhill and E.A. Freidman. . Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Publishers. Pages 17 and 23.

"A human being develops from a mass of living material no larger than a pinhead, material contributed by both parents and capable of living and growing for a lifetime ... This genetic makeup was established at the beginning of your life, when a haploid egg and a haploid sperm combined to produce a diploid zygote, your first somatic cell."
J.H. Otto and A. Towle. . New York City: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. 1969.

"The zygote is the starting cell of the new individual."
Salvadore E. Luria, M.D. <36 Lectures in Biology>. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Press, 1975, page 146.

"It is widely accepted and widely taught that human beings as well as other organisms reproducing by sexual reproduction …this is nothing unique to humans; this is a general biological principle ..start their existence at the time of conception or fertilization, as a single cell, the zygote."
Micheline M. Mathews-Roth, M.D., Harvard Medical School, quoted in the , 97th Congress, 1st Session, April 23, 1981.

"Every time a sperm cell and ovum unite, a new being is created which is alive and will continue to live unless its death is brought about by some specific condition."
E.L. Potter, M.D., and J.M. Craig, M.D. ., 3rd Edition. Chicago: Year Book Medical Publishers, 1975, page vii.

"Based on my education and background, therefore, I believe that from the moment of the union of the sperm and the egg in the human species, there is present a new living human being. The human life is there from the moment of fertilization, and its very essence starts early but is not completed until the second decade of life. I submit that human life is present throughout this entire sequence from conception to adulthood, and that interruption at any point constitutes termination of human life."
Alfred M. Bongiovanni, M.D., University of Pennsylvania Medical Professor, before the Senate Judiciary Committee, April 24, 1981.

"Physicians, biologists, and other scientists agree that conception marks the beginning of the life of a human being, a being that is alive and is a member of the human species. There is overwhelming agreement on this point in countless medical, biological, and scientific writings ... Those witnesses who testified that science cannot say whether unborn children are human beings were speaking in every instance to the value question rather than the scientific question. No witness raised any evidence to refute the biological fact that from the moment of human conception there exists a distinct individual being who is alive and is of the human species."
Report of the Senate Subcommittee on Separation of Powers to the Senate Judiciary Committee S-158, 97th Congress, 1st Session, 1981, page 7.

"Since the old ethic has not yet been fully displaced, it has been necessary to separate the idea of abortion from the idea of killing, which continues to be socially abhorrent. The result has been a curious avoidance of the scientific fact, which everyone really knows, that human life begins at conception and is continuous, whether intra- or extra- uterine, until death. The very considerable semantic gymnastics which are required to rationalize abortion as anything but taking a human life would be ludicrous if they were not often put forth under socially impeccable auspices."
A New Ethic for Medicine and Society, California Medicine, 113 67, 68 (1970).

Yes, but it can prevent implantation, which occurs a week after conception.

 

What is the point of your quotes? Pregnancy is different that when "life" begins. When a woman's uterus doesn't allow the fertilized egg to implant, that is not referred to as a spontanious abortion. It is referred to as a "failure to implant." Once Again: NO IMPLANTATION, NO PREGNANCY An abortion only occurs AFTER the egg has implanted.

peace and love

 

From a pro-life perspective, the latter is all that matters.

Once again, "eggs" don't implant; developing human embryos do. Why won't you acknowledge this simple biological fact? If you want to insist on your narrow definition of abortion, then maybe you can think of another term for intentionally killing a 1-week-old embryo.

By the way, did you look up "early pregnancy factor," as I suggested earlier? Conception evidently triggers hormonal changes in the mother's body before implantation.

 

A pro-life perspective isn't a medical one. The medical standpoint is that pregnancy begins when the embreyo implants. The medical standpoint is that abortion occurs when after the zygote aka the fertilized egg implants. A fertilized egg is known as a zygote, not an embreyo. Once the zygote, now a blastocyst as it is a mass of cells implants, then it is an embreyo. Fertility clinics don't store embreyos, they store fertilized eggs. A fertility doctor would argue that a zygote is NOT the same as an embreyo.

The hormonal changes enable the zygote to implant successfully. If not, the zygote would die in the harsh enviroment of the uterus.

Here's a link: http://aolsvc.health.webmd.aol.com/hw/health_guide_atoz/tn7394.asp

I don't like discussion based upon self rightous rhetoric; I would much rather have a medical discussion.

peace and love

 

"Embreyo", "baby", "zygote", whatever we call the bundle of cells; an abortion does the same thing. Outside of scientific literature, the choice of what to call that bundle of human cells is for rhetorical effect only.

I've found that using the opposition's terms gives me insight into what they are trying to say. Making my arguments while using their terms helps them understand me.

I'm just trying to get abortion discussions beyond the "its a baby", "no its not", "yes it is", "no its not",... that leads nowhere good.

 

i dont think abortion is right your killing someone who has no choise if they live of die....i dont have a problem with people who have them but if your going to have sex then you should know what can happen...theres always adoption...