Speech Pro-Life for Public Speaking

"When they took me into the O.R., I took a deep breath and went to sleep. When I woke up, I was in the recovery. I just felt so empty inside - one minute I had a life living inside me and 20 minutes later there's nothing. I just started crying hysterically. The nurse came up to me and said "Why are you crying? You got what you wanted, now be quiet; you're going to worry the other girls." I got myself under control and walked out into the waiting room. As soon as I got out of there I just started screaming and crying, "What did I do?" I had to be carried into the car. I cried all the way home - in my life I have never felt so much pain like that day. It's been 4 months now, and it still hurts like it was yesterday," said eighteen year old Shantel Garcia, months after a surgical procedure that changed her life. On January 22, 1973, Roe v. Wade, an ever controversial US Supreme Court case established that most laws against abortion violate a constitutional right to privacy, overturning all state laws outlawing or restricting abortion. According to Abortion TV's website as cited in 2003, abortions are one of the most common surgical procedures in the world. However, does that make them justified? Today, I am going to outline for you why I believe abortions should not continue to be legal in the United States and explain the responsible choices women can make, even in the midst of an unwanted pregnancy, that do not involve the termination of our future. My first problem with abortion is the myth that a baby is not really a living being until its third month of growth. Hence the belief that if an abortion is performed during the first trimester than it merely rejecting a cell within the mother's womb. However, this myth mostly comes from a series of word choice games. On many pro-choice websites, the reference to an unborn baby is typically a ‘fetus' or ‘zygote'. According to the Access Science Dictionary 2005, the term fetus is defined as the developing body in uterus from the beginning of the ninth week after fertilization until birth. Before this time, they would call the baby a ‘zygote', saying a zygote is nothing more than a cell formed by the union of a sperm cell and an egg cell. However, the Access Science Dictionary 2005 defines zygote as an organism produced by the union of two gametes. As referenced in the Texas Education Code in 1998, a 6th grade student should be able to describe the word organism as ‘composed of cells that carry on functions to sustain life'. According to the book Diary of an Unborn Baby, by the 22nd day after conception, the child's heart begins to beat on its own. By week 10, the baby is 10 million times larger than the fertilized egg, and by week 12 the baby not only possesses all the parts to feel pain, such as nerves and the spinal cord, but at this stage the baby can now also suck its thumb. How can one deny the fact that this "quote" ‘cell' is a baby if its heart starts beating around its 22nd day of life? My second concern with abortion is all of the dangers to the mother that occur during and following an abortion. Aside from the risk of going under anesthesia that accompanies any surgical procedure, there is also a chance of perforation of the uterus, cervix, or other organs. Other complications that can occur vary from intensive bleeding to infections to sterility or possible death. Aside from physical dangers, an article titled "How Abortion Hurts Women," describes the emotional consequences women endure, stating that women who have abortions possess an increased risk of anxiety, depression and suicide. In fact, a 2002 study published in the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry found that the rate of mental health claims was 17 percent higher and the risk of death from suicide is 2 to 6 times higher for women who have had abortions than those who had carried their children to term. Women who have abortions typically face mental problems associated with regret or discrimination against their choice. As Shantel stated, "What made it harder for me was after everything was done with, everybody acted as if nothing had ever happened. I had no one to talk to who could really understand. I still don't. I still have that emptiness in my heart and in my eyes." Thirdly, I disagree with the reasons as to why women are rejecting the children being formed within their wombs. Since 1973, when abortion was officially legalized in the United States, the number of abortions per year has risen dramatically. According to Family Planning Perspectives' article in 2002, there were approximately 744,600 abortions in 1973 and 1,328,000 in 2001. According to the National Right for Life (NRL), in 2003 approximately 52% of all women having abortions were under the age of 25 and 64.4% of the women having abortions have never been married. One of the common complaints given by pro-choice supporters is that women should have the right to choose whether they would like to keep their baby or not, especially when they have been raped, the child comes from incest, or the woman or child is in danger of some sort of health risks. However much I agree with this statement, only 1% of all the abortions performed are rape cases, and only 6% of these are performed due to potential health risk of the mother or child. The other 93% of these procedures are due to social issues, such as the mother not being ‘ready' to have a child, or that the woman already has too many children. So, about 3,441 of the estimated 3,700 abortions performed in the United States every day are simply because the mother does not want the child, or finds this is an ‘inconvenient' time to give birth. Pro-choice advocates portray one ideal in their campaigns supporting abortion: that woman should have the choice on whether or not they desire to keep their baby. They see abortion as the symbol of their "reproductive rights." However, what they neglect to acknowledge is the aforementioned fact that 93% of women seeking abortion do so for their personal or social reasons. These women also already had a choice to make, and did so. They chose to have sex – protected or unprotected. Every form of birth control on the market today blazes the label with warnings that they cannot 100% prevent a pregnancy from occurring. The women, regardless of all her aims to not get pregnant or perhaps even from her own carelessness, had sex and as a result became pregnant, and I do not believe that to avoid the consequences of such actions, she should be able to simply commit her baby's life into the hands of an abortionist. Instead, she should remain free to make another choice – a choice that puts forth her baby's welfare as well as her own. There are many alternatives to both aid in their childbirth, as well as prevent them from having this recur. The first alternative is adoption. In the United States every year, there are approximately 200,000 families that seek to adopt babies, and an average of 25,000 babies that are up for adoption, according to the National Council on Adoption is 2003. However, if adoption is not something she would want to consider, there are over 3,000 organizations in the US willing to help women with their unwanted or unexpected pregnancies, according to the NRL's website. These services do not just provide counseling and birth control options; they also assist in finding housing, maternity clothes, baby food and pre- and post-natal health care and counseling for mom and baby. So a woman who is suffering the ability to care for her child-to-come can receive both tangible and intangible assistance. I am in support of women having rights and choices. However, I do not believe that being a woman allows someone to avoid the consequences of a very knowledgeable action. It is taught in schools to those of adolescent ages that intercourse can lead to pregnancy. Birth control warning labels indicate that they cannot be 100% fool proof in the protection against pregnancy. Rape, incest and health risks constitute such a small portion of those seeking abortion that they are not my concern. It is the women who stand within the other 93% – the ones that find this pregnancy inconvenient. They made a choice already, but being unhappy with the result of that choice, they aim to erase that choice by terminating their pregnancy, rather than choosing from the other alternatives. We need to encourage those around us to seek the other choices available to them. After all, there are two lives to think of before they choose – two lives will both be affected no matter what you decide. Today, I have explained to you reasons as to why I am opposed to abortion, and have presented other alternatives to having an abortion that I believe are more positive. I hope that today, I have been able to reach out to all of you and encourage you to reconsider the laws which allow abortions to continue through the United States. As former Pittsburgh Steeler and Republican candidate for Pennsylvania Governor Lynn Swann stated, "My father had only wanted two children, yet my mother wanted three. I wasn't supposed to be born. I was born. That's enough for me to be pro-life."