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Anti Abortion: What It Means To Be Pro-Life
from:Anti Abortion people are commonly referred to as “Pro-Life”. This nickname has to do with their belief that life begins at conception. Since those who are anti abortion believe that life begins at conception, they feel that abortion is essentially murder and should not be legal for any reason. However, as with any other heated political debate that has religious and moral implications, there is a lot of “gray area” between Pro-Life and Pro-Choice. For example, some people consider themselves Pro-Life, but are in favor of abortion if the pregnancy endangers the mother.
Christians often are anti abortion. These people draw on messages in the Bible to back their Pro-Life arguments. Certain books of the Bible, like Luke and Jeremiah, claim that God knows all souls before they are born. They interpret this to mean that if God knows someone before birth, then that person is alive the moment he or she is conceived.
Anti abortionists also believe that the most a person will grow and change is when they are in the womb. Before birth, a human being develops all of their physical attributes like arms, legs, a spine, a brain, and the ability to feel pain. Fetal pain is a huge debate that also is important to those who are anti abortion. Pro-Lifers believe that the fetus can feel pain during the first trimester of pregnancy. Thus, an abortion would be painful for the unborn child. However, many other professionals suggest that the fetus cannot feel pain until the second of third trimester. This means that abortions performed in the first, or even early in the second trimester, do not cause the fetus to feel any pain.
While the Supreme Court of the United States declared abortion legal with the precedent-setting Roe vs. Wade decision in 1973, states are allowed to ban late term abortions as long as the mother’s health is provided for. Essentially, this means that states that have residents who are primarily anti abortion have placed bans on late-term abortions. Currently, there is a ban on one late-term abortion procedure, Intact Dilation and Extraction, called the Partial Birth Abortion Ban. This ban does make provisions for circumstances when the mother’s health is at risk, so the Supreme Court is debating the validity of the law.
Anti abortion proponents claim that even abortion in the case of rape or incest should be illegal because the fetus is not at fault. They also are against abortion clinic being funded by the government. In fact, many anti abortionists are so passionate that they will kill abortion doctors or bomb abortion clinics. This is by no means represents the average Pro-Lifer, but rather a very small percentage.