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Abortion
QUICK FACTS
Abortion in the United States is legal through all nine months of pregnancy.
More than 4.400 surgical abortions are performed every day in this country.
Countless lives are also lost through chemical abortions, ie: RU 486, Plan B, the pill, emergency contraception, etc., which go unreported.
FETAL DEVELOPMENT AND TYPES OF ABORTION
Fertilization through twelve weeks:
At 18 days a baby's heart starts beating. At 40 days brain waves can be detected. By 8 weeks, the major organs are formed. By 3 months, the baby can suck his thumb, perform a somersault, respond to touch, hiccup, and grasp an object. He's 2 1/2 inches long. The most common types of abortion at this stage of fetal development are:
Chemical contraceptives as listed above. These chemicals act on the lining of the uterus, making it hostile to implantation of the fertilized egg.
Manual vacuum aspiration. Using ultrasound to locate the baby, a catheter connected to a syringe is inserted into the mother's uterus and the baby is sucked out of the womb.
Suction aspiration. The mother's cervix is dilated and a hollow tube with a knife-like tip is inserted into the uterus. A suction machine rips the baby apart and sucks him into a bottle.The baby is then pieced back together, like a puzzle, to make sure nothing is left in the uterus.
Dilation and curettage. A loop-shaped, steel knife is inserted into the uterus, slicing the baby to pieces. Both the baby and the placenta are then scraped into a bowl. Again, all pieces of the baby are accounted for.
Four to six months:
The baby is 8 - 12 inches long and weighs about one pound. The brain has begun maturing. She can hear sounds like her mother's voice and heartbeat. Her taste buds are now working. Her movements are strong enough to be felt by the mother. Fine hair begins to grow on the scalp, eyebrows and eyelids. An abortion at this stage of development would be as follows:
Dilation and evacuation. The mother's cervix is dilated. An instrument that resembles pliers is inserted into the mother's uterus and is used to twist and rip the limbs from the torso, crush the baby's head and spine, and then remove the pieces from the mother's uterus.
Saline injection. A 20% saline solution is injected into the mother's uterus. The baby breathes and swallows the caustic solution and dies a slow, painful death due to salt poisoning. The mother goes into labor within a day or two and delivers a badly burned, dead baby.
Intracardiac injection. Primarily used for "pregnancy reduction" when the mother is carrying two or more babies, but doesn't want to give birhth to all of them.Using ultrasound to pinpoint the baby's heart, the doctor injects fluid directly into the baby's heart causing an immediate heart attack.
Seven months to Birth:
The baby begins to use all of her senses. She can hear, taste, yawn, cough, and hiccup. Her eyelids open and close and she looks around. Her grip is stronger. She continues to gain weight and her lungs become fully developed. Although partial-birth abortion has been banned in the United States, late-term abortions are still legal. The most common type of abortion at this stage of development is Dilation and Evacuation, as described above.
Information on this page was adapted from brochures by the American Life League.