Main Issues

• Issue between freedom of choice for the mother (rights of the mother) and right to life for the baby (rights of the unborn child)

• Pro-Choice= Believe in freedom. The right for a woman to decide over her own body.

• Pro-Life= Believe everyone deserves a chance to live. Consider it murder to kill a growing life.

Pro-Life Arguments

• Since life begins at conception, abortion is murder as it is taking away a growing human life.

• No civilized society allows one human to intentionally take the life of another and abortion should be no different.

• Adoption is a good alternative to abortion. • Having an abortion, can result in many short term

and long term medical complications in life. • In the case of rape, abortion punishes the unborn

child who committed no crime. • Young women who choose abortions have

insufficient life experiences to understand what they are doing.

• Abortion causes intense psychological pain and stress and can cause mental disorders in life.

Pro-Life Arguments Con’t

• For women who want control over their body, instead of aborting, they should prevent the risk of an unwanted pregnancy through contraceptives or abstinence.

Pro-Choice Arguments• A fetus cannot be considered a separate person, as it

can’t exist outside of the mother’s womb. • Abortion is a safe medical procedure. They don’t affect

a woman’s health or future ability to have birth.• In the case of rape, forcing a woman made pregnant

by this act would just cause them more psychological harm.

• A woman should be able to control her body as her civil rights.

• Teens who become pregnant have grim prospects for the future. They are more likely to have problems if they don’t abort.

• Abortion creates stress, just like any other difficult situation.

Canadian Statistics • In 2005, 96,815 abortions were performed on

Canadian women. • More than 3 million unborn babies have died from

abortion in Canada since 1969. • That’s the equivalent of eliminating the populations

of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia. • Between 1969 and 2005, there have been 88,720

abortions in Manitoba, 1,146,255 abortions in Ontario, but only 470 in Prince Edward Island and 288 in Nunavut.

• Teens accounted for 17% of abortions in 2004. • Girls under 18 accounted for 6.3% of all abortions

and women in their 20’s accounted for 53% of all abortions in 2004.

• Abortions were performed on 304 girls ages 14 and younger in 2004.

Canadian Statistics• 1.7% of women who had an abortion in a hospital,

suffered complications following the abortion in 2004. • For abortions performed after 20 weeks, 10.5%

suffered complications. • The cost of abortions every year, paid by us

taxpayers, is $80 million. • 21% of women choose abortion, because of

inadequate finances. • Another 21% say they are not ready for the

responsibility.• 16% say their life would be changed too much• 12% choose it because of problems with their

relationship.• Only 1% of women choose abortion because of rape

or incest.

United States Statistics• Since 1973 (Roe vs. Wade), there have been over

50.5 million abortions in the United States. • That is the equivalent of eliminating over 60 of

America’s largest cities. • If we lost that many people in a nuclear war, we’d call

it the worst military disaster in history!• Every year in America, there are approximately 1.3

million abortions.• 52% of US women getting abortions are 25 years or

younger. • Teens account for 17% of abortions.• 47% of women obtaining abortions, have already had

at least one abortion.

United States Statistics

• Abortion is a bigger killer than heart disease, stroke, pneumonia, cancer, lung disorders and AIDS combined.

• Plus 42 times more children than all causes of infant death.

• Abortion is the leading cause of death in the United States.

• It kills 60 times more Americans every year than murder, 50 times more than suicide.

• 3700 babies are aborted every day and 150 every hour!

• One baby is lost every two and a half minutes.

The Aborted States

• The equivalent number of states’ population equal to the number to the abortions in America.

World Wide Abortion Statistics

• From 1920-2008, there have been approximately 1.5 billion abortions around the world.

• Estimated global monthly average= 1.2 million abortions.

• From 1970-2008, there have been 1,788,360 abortions in Australia.

• In Canada, since 1969 there have been 3,168,141 abortions.

• In the United States, since 1973 there have been 50,212,754 abortions.

World Wide Abortion Statistics

• 83% of all abortions occur in developing countries and 17% occur in developed countries.

• Every year, worldwide, about 50 million babies are “terminated.”

Canadian Abortion Laws• As early as 1869, Canada had prohibited abortion. • Section 251 of the Criminal Code became a law in

1969.• Decriminalized abortion but allow some under

conditions.• In the Criminal Code, it was still a criminal offence to

“procure a miscarriage.” • Maximum penalty of life imprisonment. The pregnant

woman and the abortionist could be guilty of the offence.

• Section 251 of the Criminal Code stated, “Everyone who, with intent to procure the miscarriage of a female person, uses drugs, instruments or manipulation of any kind for the purpose of carrying out their intention, is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for life.”

• If an abortion committee signed a statement that said the continuation of pregnancy of the female, would endanger the pregnant woman’s life or health, the woman could get a legal abortion.

Canadian Abortion Laws

• Section 7 of the Charter says, “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person..”

• Dr. Henry Morgentaler attempted to establish abortion clinics throughout Canada to bring awareness to the issue of lawfulness in section 251 of the Code.

• His case was heard at the Supreme Court of Canada in 1988 and they ruled that section 251 of the Code, violated section 7 of the Charter. The law was then struck down and no longer in effect.

• January 28, 1988: Supreme Court strikes down abortion law.

• The Chief Justice said, “Forcing a woman to carry a fetus is a profound interference with a woman’s body and this is violation of her security of the person.”

Canadian Abortion Laws

• Since the Morgentaler decision, there is no Canadian criminal law which addresses abortion and it is completely legal in Canada.

R vs. Morgentaler (1988)• In 1969, Henry Morgentaler defied section 251 of

Criminal Code and performed abortions at his medical practice in Quebec.

• Under section 251 of the Criminal Code, women wanting an abortion needed to have a certificate from a therapeutic abortion committee.

• Morgentaler’s clinic served women who didn’t have this. (Illegal at the time)

• January 1988= Supreme Court of Canada struck down section 251 of the Criminal Code.

• Believed the law violated section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

• Therefore, no legislation protecting the unborn.

R vs. Sullivan • 1991 Supreme Court of Canada legal case. • Two people were hired as midwives who had no

formal medical training but had some experience with home births.

• During a childbirth, which took place at a home, the mother’s contractions stopped when the baby’s head appeared.

• The midwives failed to induce further contractions and bruised the mother while trying.

• She was taken to hospital and the child was removed from her but it wasn’t alive due to suffocation from a lack of oxygen.

• Doctors attempted and failed to revive the child.• The midwives were charged with negligence

causing death to the child and criminal negligence causing bodily harm to the mother.

R vs. Sullivan • Trial in 1986 in Vancouver. Convicted of first

charge but acquitted on second one. Received 3 years probation.

• The BC Court of Appeal (1988) said that in order to legally be considered a person, you must be fully outside the mother’s body and alive at birth.

• Dismissed charge of criminal negligence causing death and substituted second charge of criminal negligence causing bodily harm.

• Based on the fact that an injury to the unborn child equalled an injury to the mother.

• Said the child remains part of the mother when in the birth canal.

R vs. Sullivan

• Appealed to Supreme Court of Canada.• Case heard in 1990.• Decision in 1991, that the midwives were

acquitted of the charges against them.• The Criminal Code said that a fetus was not a

human being.

• Therefore, the midwives could not be guilty of negligence of the fetus, as this law only occurs

with legally people.

Abortion’s Impact• In Canada, there have been 3 million abortions since

1969.• That’s the equivalent of eliminating all the people who

live in Alberta, or Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia combined.

• In America, there have been 50.5 million abortions since 1973.

• That’s equivalent to the population of their 60 largest cities.

• Worldwide, over a billion babies have been aborted.• That’s equal to or greater than the loss we would have

experienced from a nuclear war.• There is a 30% loss in the generation under 36 years old.• Almost 1/3rd of this generation has been aborted.• It is the greatest loss ever inflicted on any generation in

history.

Abortion’s Impact• 50.5 million Americans and 3 million Canadians have

vanished without a trace. • Dennis Howard from “Movement for a Better America”

says, “Nothing has inflicted more permanent damage on our society than abortion. 50.5 million abortions is 43 times more than all the fatalities from all the wars in our nation’s history, including the ravages of the war on terrorism and the tragedy of September 11th.”

• “Yet these numbers, never seem to make the headlines.”

• “The human loss from abortion is the same as if all our major metropolitan centers had been lost to a nuclear attack. The only difference is that a nuclear war would be a dramatic event while abortions take place one at a time in the privacy of a medical clinic.”

Abortion and War• Where’s The Real War? • Compares deaths due to Abortion with US deaths

due to wars.• World War 2= 407,316 deaths • World War 1= 116,708 deaths • Civil War= 498,332 deaths • Korea= 25,604 deaths• Vietnam= 58,168 deaths • Revolutionary War= 4,435 deaths • World Trade Centre/September 11th= 2,726

deaths • US Deaths in all wars in history= 1,113,289 deaths• Total killed due to abortions since 1973= 50.5

million• Why isn’t this in the evening news?

Financial Impact

• In Canada, with 3 million abortions since 1969, the economic impact (the loss in tax revenue) is between $2 and $4 trillion.

• Even if abortion ends, it will take more than a generation to recover this lost money.

• As baby boom teachers and nurses retire, there is a shortage of 1 million nurses and 2 million teachers in America.

• Huge loss in consumer demands. Those aborted children could have contributed to the economy and kept it growing as future workers, consumers, producers, parents and taxpayers.

• To save programs like Medicare and Social Security, America will have to raise tax rates as high as 82%!

Financial Impact

• In America, the estimated loss in tax revenue is $18 trillion.

• If those lost children had lived, they would have paid this much money in tax revenues during their working lifetimes.

• Even if you’ve never had an abortion, taxes alone adds up to $40,000 for every man, woman and child alive right now, over their lifetime.

Moral/Social Impact• Legalized abortions have corrupted the idea of

sexuality.• When illegal, price of unwanted pregnancy was

terrifyingly high.• Gave unmarried women an incentive to be careful. • But now, an unwanted pregnancy is only a small

nuisance.• All you have to do is see an abortionist. • This poses the questions as, “Why be careful? Why

hold back?” • There are increasing rates of domestic violence. • 1.9 million women are physically assaulted annually in

the US.• 50% of all Canadian women have experienced at least

once incident of violence since the age 16.

Moral/Social Impact• Society has changing attitudes towards the value

of life in general.• “Since life is being destroyed before birth, why

not destroy it on the other end?” • “Will a society which has assumed the right to kill

infants before birth, have difficulty in assuming the right to kill other human beings?”

• People will start to think that murder is acceptable in all forms.

• This causes more overall violence. • Abortion has desensitized the people to sex and

violence against children.

Moral/Social Impact• Society no longer values human life. • We place more importance on convenience than

responsibility.• The pro-abortion movement has said that the

unborn human life has no value. • Many people follow the logic and conclude that

maybe this means that all human life is without worth.

• Increase in school violence, school shootings, gang violence, sexual assaults and teen suicide.

• The children lost to abortion, could have made a difference in the world.

• We are missing out on the talent and creativity of 1.5 billion lost to abortion.

• Lost future teachers, doctors, inventors, scientists, writers, mothers, performers, athletes and fathers.

Mother Teresa Quotes

• “I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the children. A direct killing of the innocent child—murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?”

• “Any country that accepts abortion, is not teaching its people to love, but to use violence to get what it wants.”

• “By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems. Any by abortion, the father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. The father is likely to put other women in the same trouble. So abortion just leads to more abortion.”

Mother Teresa Quotes • “It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that

you may live as you wish.”• “Many people are concerned with children of India,

with the children of Africa where quite a few die of hunger and so on. Many people are also concerned about the violence in this great country of the United States. These concerns are good. But often these same people are not concerned with the millions being killed by the deliberate decision of their own mothers. Abortion brings people to such blindness.”

• President Ronald Reagan: “Until someone can prove that the unborn human is not alive, we must give it the benefit of the doubt and assume it is alive. It should be entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Physical Health Effects• Infection of the uterus lining.

(Endometritis)• Uterine lacerations.• Hemorrhages.• Cervical lacerations.• Saline poisoning• Convulsions• Uterine rupture• Mortality • Pelvic Inflammatory Disease • LONG TERM EFFECTS • Infertility• Breast Cancer

-Risks in Future Pregnancies:

-Premature births

-Risk of bleeding during pregnancy and labor leading to severe hemorrhage and possibly death of the baby.

Psychological Effects

• Anxiety • Depression• Drug Abuse• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder• Sleep problems• Suicidal thoughts• Extreme guilt throughout life. • Eating disorders • Sexual dysfunctions• Withdrawal

Abortion Laws World Wide

Abortion Laws Worldwide

• Completely Illegal in Nicaragua, Chile and El Salvador.

• Countries where the most abortions have taken place:

• India, China, Japan, South Korea, Romania, Russia, United States, Vietnam and Ukraine.

• Countries where least amount of abortions have taken place:

• Turks Islands, Panama, Anguilla, Cocos Islands and Botswana.