Over 1.2 million abortions were performed in the United States in 2008—that’s over 3,330 every day! While many women think they’re doing themselves a favor by freeing themselves of the responsibility of a child that they do not want or don’t feel they can take care of, a good number of them don’t know about the serious consequences of an abortion on both the mother and the unborn child. When many women learn the real abortion facts, pro-life arguments begin to shape not only their thinking, but their actions as well.

The pro-life point of view is rooted in one simple truth: life begins at conception. Therefore, destroying an embryo or fetus, no matter how early in a pregnancy, is taking a life. Here are critical abortion facts that you need to know:

• It’s not just tissue: by day 22—usually before the mother knows she is pregnant—the heart begins to beat.
• At 20 weeks, an unborn child is fully capable of feeling pain—but many abortions are performed after this point of a pregnancy.
• Abortion is performed using several methods. Here are abortion facts on several common procedures:
• Dilation and Aspiration (D&A), which is the most-performed type of abortion in the first trimester, involves suctioning the developing baby into a collection bottle and, in many cases, scraping the wall of the uterus to remove any pieces than remain.
• Dilation and Evacuation (D&E), which is performed on fetuses up to 24 weeks, involves dismembering a fetus and removing it piece by piece with a forceps.
• Medical abortion, which is administered up to seven weeks into a pregnancy, induces a miscarriage with one of several drugs.
• At least 20 percent of women who have abortions experience long-term complications, often affecting their reproductive systems.
• Abortions have been associated with numerous serious health issues, including infection, excessive bleeding, embolisms (blood clots), ripping or perforation of the uterus, convulsions, cervical injury and sterility.
• Abortion increases the risk of miscarriage in a later pregnancy.
• Abortion, particularly of a first pregnancy, increases the risk of breast cancer.
• Abortion facts reveal the serious emotional toll that this procedure takes on a woman:
• 90 percent of women who have abortions experience some level of emotional or psychiatric stress.
• One in five women who have abortions suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
• Women who’ve had an abortion are more likely to have an anxiety or mood disorder, and are at an increased risk for substance abuse.
• Women who abort a baby are more likely to suffer from an eating disorder.
• Abortion doesn’t prevent an unwanted child from entering the world. More than two million couples in the United States are waiting to adopt, so there’s no shortage of those who want a baby.

Abortion facts are clear: an abortion ends a life. The pro-life point of view is based in preserving this life, no matter how small.

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