The President                                                                                                                         September 21, 2016 

 The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Future President,

Abortion is a social and ethical issue as well as a crime that is permitted in the U.S way too often. Many others who agree with me would like for the legalization of abortion to be banned, and for very good reasons. This is necessary because abortion is not morally correct. Banning abortion is needed because doing so will save lives. Abortion is simply the murder of an innocent child. There should be no exceptions to allow abortion because no reason can validate it enough.

An article from Web MD, published in June reported that some common reasons for abortion include: failed birth control, inability to support or care for a child, to end an unwanted pregnancy, to prevent the birth of a child with birth defects, pregnancy resulting from rape and incest, and physical or mental conditions that endanger the woman’s health if pregnancy is continued. I cannot stress enough that no reason for abortion is ethical enough. I do acknowledge that at times there is a failed emergency contraception, or that a condom does not do its job no matter how careful the woman and man are. However careful or irresponsible the situation to prevent a pregnancy was handled, the responsibility of having the child must be dealt with and simply deciding to walk away from responsibility by aborting the child is not an option. This is because the two individuals who willfully engaged in intercourse knew that there was a possibility of a pregnancy. A baby does not just spontaneously bloom out of nowhere; certain actions must have been taken beforehand. The simple reason of ending an unwanted pregnancy because an individual feels like it also falls within my previous reasoning of taking responsibility for ones actions. Another invalid reason for abortion is the inability to support or care for a child because there is always the option of adoption.

Furthermore, I understand that some reasons are a bit more complicated. A complicated circumstance is pregnancy resulting from rape or incest. I feel every bit of compassion for these women. They deserve compassion, comfort, and someone who will listen, but I also believe as Kristi Burton Brown wrote in a November article in Live Action News, “one tragedy is not answered with another.” These women have gone through this unfortunate tragedy and may not be in the right state of mind to make such a decision. Killing an innocent child because of the crime of another is not justified. Simply erasing the existence of the child will not erase or by any means make the situation any better. I also acknowledge that a continued pregnancy may endanger a woman’s health due to physical or mental conditions, but for these reasons there are great professionals who are trained to deal with this. Another touchy subject is aborting a child to prevent the birth of a child with birth defects. I think the child should be given a chance to defy the odds. Once again as Kristi Brown wrote, “we do not cure a baby by taking his life, and we do not avoid all health issues by avoiding the reality of another human being.” Some argue that this will save the child pain in the future, but that is controversial because abortion itself causes the baby much pain.

While on the subject of pain, research shows babies can feel pain by 8 weeks and all types of abortion cause pain. An article from Abortion Facts published in 2013-reported that, “By 8 weeks the neuro-anatomic structures are present. What is needed is a sensory nerve to feel the pain and send a message to the thalamus, a part of the base of the brain and motor nerves that send a message to that area. These are present at 8 weeks. The pain impulse goes to the thalamus. It sends a signal down the motor nerves to pull away from the hurt.” Which explains why babies pull away or open their mouths in a silent scream during an abortion to express pain much like a living baby or an adult would. This report is also conclusive with Dr. David Prentices May report from a talk show in which he argues that though the baby does not have a mature cerebral cortex which is responsible for pain perception at 20 weeks, there is another layer formed earlier around 8-12 weeks called the thalamus, which is actually needed to feel pain. In fact, he goes on to say that there are individuals who are born without the cerebral cortex who indeed feel pain. To end on an interesting note, if a baby can move around in the womb to a comfortable position as early as 7 weeks, then it is reasonable to conclude that they can determine what is comfortable for them and what is not. Is it not also reasonable to conclude that if they can determine what is comfortable, that they can also determine what pain is? It is simply not a reflex as some claim it to be. How can it be said that they are happy or in a good mood in the womb and then it be said that no pain is felt when their bodies are being dismembered in an excruciating and agonizing procedure? A lovely and innocent life is taken in a matter of a few minutes - a life originally meant to be lived for many years.

Today women have more rights and choices over their bodies. They have the right over their health and they get to decide whether or not to have a child and even when to have a child. When she chooses to abort she knows what she is ultimately doing, and she knows that it isn’t an easy choice. She has been educated and she has obviously had time to think about her choice, enough to make an informed decision, which sometimes doesn’t make the decision any easier. Which is exactly my point, because the decision of abortion is difficult for a reason, because choosing to end a life is no simple dilemma. The claim that it is the woman’s body, and therefore she gets to decide what to do with it is invalid. It is invalid because it is not her body she is deciding to exterminate; it is the child’s. She does not possess four arms or four legs. It is not her heartbeat to end. There is obviously two distinct heartbeats which should be proof enough that what is inside the woman is not just a mere clump of cells. It is a separate, growing, living thing. The earliest human embryo is biologically alive because it exhibits 4 characteristics that classify life. That child could one day impact the world significantly, if he or she were only given a chance at the most basic human right of all.

So I ask of you, Mr. President, will you ban abortion and save lives? I ask you to recollect on when Nazi Germany thought that there was nothing wrong with killing Jews and even more astonishing when they thought that they were doing justice in this crime. I ask you to reflect on when slavery was considered okay in the United States, on when women were denied rights, and child labor was allowed, and on many past events like these and now ask yourself if abortion is truly justified and okay? Is there even the slightest possibility that our future society will look back and ponder on how humanity allowed this to happen? Science will inevitably reveal the truth about the humanity of these little lives. So please consider banning abortion. Just because it is legal does not mean that it is moral. Ask yourself, “What is abortion ultimately doing?” Without sugar coating it, abortion is really a euphemism for the murder of an innocent child. Honestly, I have not exhausted enough reason in this brief letter, due to the fact that I know you are very busy. There is much more that I want to say that has been left out, but I have high hopes that you will reconsider allowing abortion and I have the upmost respect on your final decision.

Sincerely, Barbara C.