Days 1 - 4 An opaque bubble, the fused egg and sperm divides and multiples as it journeys along the fallopian tube to the womb.
Week 1 The tiny new organism passes into the womb.
Week 4 The embryo has the basis of a heart, brain and nervous system.
Week 6 Head, arms and legs, as well as a digestive system, develop.
Week 8 Brain, nervous system and muscles become active.
Week 10 Eyes start to form. Webbed fingers and toes emerge.
Week 12 Gender is evident. As muscles develop, movement increases.
Week 16 With a spurt of growth, the baby becomes more energetic.
Week 18 Fine down covers the body, and bone begins to replace cartilage.
Week 20 Hair starts to grow on the head.
Week 24 The baby may suck its thumb and hiccups.
The above shows what happens up to 24 weeks from conception. At any time up to 24weeks a women can have an abortion. Looking at the development of the embryo when does it become a human? When do distinct and characteristic human parts such as a head actually emerge? At four weeks when the baby has the basis of a heart, brain and nervous system is it possible to say that the baby’s life has started.
When the baby is still in the womb nobody can tell what it’s going to grow up to be. Women who abort a child because it has disabilities or is not completely normal I think that they shouldn’t abort their baby. Every foetus is a unique, talented human being, a genius perhaps even a William Shakespeare or Beethoven. A good example of a person with disabilities is the education minister who is blind, David Blunkett. Other examples are people who are involved in the Paralympics, a large achievement and success of disabled people. A very famous lady called Alison Lapper who was born with no arms or legs has had a very successful life. A statue of her is being put up in Trafalgar Square to show the achievements that she has made. If a woman wanted a child and found out from a scan that it would be severely handicapped and disabled then she would have to make a decision on whether to keep the baby or not. A Christian may believe that the baby’s life has already started and that by having an abortion she is breaking the sixth commandment ‘Thou shall not kill’. A non-religious woman may think that she does not want to have a child with a disability and that the child has not yet started its life and that an abortion is the best option.
If he or she was severely disabled mentally then he or she may not be able to communicate. This would affect the child mentally and physically. In modern day society there is a high chance of being discriminated against. Everywhere people are prejudiced so why risk any abuse. Why put it through pain all of its life when it could have no pain at all.
On the other hand, you don’t know that the child isn’t going to grow up to be like Alison Lapper. If the mother of Alison has seen a scan and saw that she had such severe disabilities and had an abortion think about what society would lose if this kept on happening. .
History teaches us that miscarried foestuses were considered human beings. During the 1700's fetal baptisms were performed on miscarried foetuses because they believed that despite not being fully developed the foetuses were still human enough to be baptised and therefore saved by Jesus Christ.
I disagree with the statement ‘abortion is never justified’. The reason for this is because in certain circumstances I believe that it is the right course of action.
I believe that human life begins at eight weeks because at this time the Brain, nervous system and muscles become active. The brain of a human is what makes a human different from other species. As medical science improves and wanted babies that miscarry early can be kept alive in an incubator, therefore unwanted babies of the same age that would survive in an incubator are being murdered by abortion methods.
I believe that early abortions are appropriate if the mother decides that it is right for her in the following circumstances rape, incest and child abuse. All human beings have a right to life despite deformity and disability. It is society’s responsibility to support parents of children with disabilities to enable them to reach their full potential and have a good quality of life.
Fertility problems mean that some couples never conceive the child that they so want and would consider adoption. Adoption is not a readily available solution today as so many babies are being aborted. Adoption should be a more readily available option because it gives couples who have no children a chance to have a family of their own; it also solves the problem of the mother who does not want the baby. The mother knows that the baby has gone to a loving home. The option of just aborting the baby because it is unwanted is not acceptable when there is the choice of adoption; there are only few cases where it is considered right to have an abortion.
I think that abortion is only justified if performed in early pregnancy and if doctors can incubate baby’s born at 28 weeks, so that they survive without health problems I believe that it is morally wrong to abort babies at the same stage of development. In the cases I have outlined above I accept that abortion can be performed up to eight weeks gestation. I also think that abortion should be made harder to obtain by needing two doctors signatures. Both the mother and father of the baby should be offered counseling to help them look at all the options available including adoption. This would enable them to reach an informed and not emotional decision that they may regret later. I feel strongly that abortion should not be used as a form of contraception. If people find themselves in the position where they do have an unwanted baby then their first choice should be adoption not abortion.
