CONFUSED, frightened, tearful, a 15-year-old girl watches her boyfriend walk away in disgust. He called her stupid for getting pregnant. She thought they were in love.

A woman is filled with despair when she realizes that she is expecting her sixth child. Her husband is out of work, and the little ones go to bed hungry every night. How can they possibly care for another child?

“It couldn’t have come at a worse time,” explains a smartly dressed woman to her doctor. She has finally earned her engineering degree and is about to begin her new career. Her husband is completely absorbed in his law practice. Where would they find time for a baby?

These people live worlds apart and face different dilemmas, but they choose the same solution: abortion.

Abortion is one of the most explosive issues of the decade, igniting raging debates in political, social, medical, and theological fields. In the United States, pro-lifers march for the rights of the unborn. The pro-choice camp stands on the grounds of freedom and a woman’s right to decide. Crusaders battle freedom fighters in elections, in courtrooms, in churches, even in the streets.

Millions are caught in a tug-of-war, torn by the impassioned arguments of each side. The very terms “pro-choice” and “pro-life” were carefully chosen to woo the undecided. In this age where freedom is idolized, who wouldn’t favor choice? But then again, who wouldn’t be for life? Pro-choice groups brandish coat hangers to dramatize the deaths of oppressed women who undergo unsafe illegal abortions. Pro-life advocates wield jars of aborted fetuses as a grim reminder of millions of unborn dead.

This whole death-dealing tragedy is aptly described in Laurence H. Tribe’s book Abortion: The Clash of Absolutes. “Many who can readily envision the concrete humanity of a fetus, who hold its picture high and weep, barely see the woman who carries it and her human plight. . . . Many others, who can readily envision the woman and her body, who cry out for her right to control her destiny, barely envision the fetus within that woman and do not imagine as real the life it might have been allowed to lead.”

While this moral war rages on, from 50 million to 60 million unborn casualties will this year fall on the battlefield of rights.

Where do you stand on this emotional issue? How would you answer these key questions: Is it a woman’s fundamental right to decide? Is an abortion justified under any circumstances? When does life begin? And the ultimate, though seldom-asked, question: How does the Creator of life and childbearing view abortion?

Abortion has a long history. In ancient Greece and Rome, abortion was a common practice. In Europe during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, it was considered allowable until quickening, that is, when the mother would feel life in the womb. With the sexual revolution came the consequence​—millions of unwanted pregnancies.

The 1960’s marked the rise of the women’s movement, of which so-called reproductive right is a foundation stone. Some clamor for abortion rights for pregnant victims of rape or incest or when the mother’s health is at risk. Medical technology has opened a window on the womb to spot possible birth defects and the baby’s gender. Pregnancies are ended on the strength of a doctor’s pessimistic prognosis. Women over 40 years of age may be anxious about deformities.

In poverty-stricken lands, many women who have limited access to contraception feel they cannot provide for more children. And stretching the definition of pro-choice to its limit, some pregnant women choose to abort a fetus because they feel that the timing of the pregnancy just isn’t right or because they learn the sex of the unborn child and simply do not want it.

Many volleys fired in this conflict deal with the question of when life begins. Few will argue the point that the fertilized egg cell is living. The question is, living as what? Mere tissue? Or is it human? Is an acorn an oak tree? Then, is a fetus a person? Does it have civil rights? The wrangling over words is endless. How ironic that in one and the same hospital, doctors may work valiantly to save the life of a premature baby and yet end the life of a fetus of the same age! The law may allow them to kill a baby inside the womb, but it’s murder if the baby is outside the womb.

The loudest demands for legal abortion come from “liberated” moderns who have unlimited access to contraception methods to prevent pregnancy in the first place. They vehemently lay claim to something called reproductive rights, when in actuality they’ve already exercised their capacity to conceive and reproduce. What they really want is the right to undo that reproduction. The justification? “It’s my body!” But is it really?

Abortion​—A Citizens’ Guide to the Issues states that in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, “the tiny amount of tissue in a gelatinous state is very easy to remove.” Can abortion rightly be regarded as “removing a blob of tissue” or “terminating the product of conception”? Or are these sugarcoated terms designed to make the bitter truth palatable and put troubled consciences to rest?

That unwanted piece of tissue is a growing, thriving life, complete with its own set of chromosomes. Like a prophetic autobiography, it tells the detailed story of a unique individual in the making. Renowned research professor of fetology A. W. Liley explains: “Biologically, at no stage can we subscribe to the view that the foetus is a mere appendage of the mother. Genetically, mother and baby are separate individuals from conception.”

Irresponsible Behavior

Nevertheless, with free access to abortion, many have felt no pressing need to guard against unwanted conception. They prefer to use abortion as a safety net to do away with any “accidents” that come along.

Statistics show that the age of puberty has dropped in this century. Hence, younger children are capable of childbearing. Are they taught the weighty responsibility that accompanies that privilege? The average American loses his or her virginity by age 16, and 1 out of 5 before 13 years of age. One third of married men and women are carrying on an affair or have done so in the past. Abortion finds ready clients among the promiscuous. Much like the occasional call to legalize prostitution in order to stem the spread of AIDS, the legalizing of abortion may have made the practice somewhat safer medically, but it has done more to create a fertile environment in which moral disease can and does flourish.

Victims of Violence or of Circumstance?

Interestingly, studies show that pregnancy from rape is extremely rare. One survey of 3,500 consecutive victims of rape in Minneapolis, U.S.A., yielded not a single case of pregnancy. Of 86,000 abortions in the former Czechoslovakia, only 22 were for rape. Thus, only a tiny portion of those seeking abortions do so for these reasons.

What of those frightening predictions of terribly deformed babies with irreversible birth defects? At the first sign of trouble, some doctors are quick to urge abortion. Can they be absolutely sure of the diagnosis? Many parents can attest that such dire prophecies may be unfounded, and they have happy, healthy children to prove it. Others with children considered handicapped are just as happy to be parents. Indeed, a mere 1 percent of those seeking abortion in the United States do so because they are told of some possible defect in the fetus.

Nevertheless, in the time it has taken you to read this article, unborn babies have died by the hundreds. Where is it happening? And how are the lives of those involved affected?

FROM 50 million to 60 million unborn babies perish each year by abortion. Can you comprehend that number? It would be like sweeping the entire population of the Hawaiian Islands off the map every week!

Exact figures are difficult to gather because most governments do not keep careful records of abortions. And where abortion is restricted or illegal, experts can only hazard a guess. But the global abortion profile looks something like this:

In the United States, abortion is the second most common surgical procedure, next to tonsillectomy. Annually, over 1.5 million abortions are performed. The clear majority of the women are unmarried​—4 out of 5. Single women terminated their pregnancies twice as often as they gave birth, while, on an average, married women gave birth ten times as often as they had an abortion.

In Central and South America​—largely Catholic—​abortion laws are the most restrictive in the world. Nevertheless, illegal abortion abounds, presenting serious health hazards to women. Brazilian women, for example, underwent about four million abortions last year. Upwards of 400,000 of them had to seek medical treatment due to complications. In Latin America about one fourth of all pregnancies are terminated.

Across the Atlantic on the continent of Africa, the laws are also stringent. Injuries and deaths are common, especially among poor women who seek the aid of illegal practitioners.

Throughout the Middle East, many countries have strict laws on the books, but abortions are still widely sought and obtained by those women able to afford the high fees.

Most of Western Europe permits some abortions, Scandinavia being the most liberal. Britain’s National Health Service has kept track of abortions ever since the procedure was legalized in 1967. It observed a doubling of the number of abortions along with an increase in illegitimate births, sexually transmitted diseases, prostitution, and a host of reproductive disorders.

Eastern Europe is currently in a state of flux, and so are abortion laws there. In what was the Soviet Union, abortions are estimated at 11 million annually, among the highest number worldwide. With contraceptives scarce and economic conditions poor, an average woman in that region may undergo from six to nine abortions in her lifetime.

Throughout Eastern Europe the trend is generally toward liberalization. A dramatic example is Romania, where the former regime actively proscribed abortion and banned contraception in order to encourage population increase. Women were compelled to bear a quota of at least four children, and by 1988, Romanian orphanages were overflowing with abandoned youngsters. Thus, since the revolutionary government of 1989 dropped these restrictions on abortion, 3 babies of every 4 are aborted, Europe’s highest ratio.

Asia accounts for the largest number of abortions. The People’s Republic of China, with its one-child policy and compulsory abortions, leads the list, reporting 14 million per year. In Japan women decorate tiny statues with bibs and toys in memory of their aborted children. The public has high anxiety about birth-control pills, and abortion is the primary method of family planning.

Throughout Asia, and particularly in India, medical technology has created an awkward predicament for female-rights activists. Such techniques as amniocentesis and ultrasound can be used to determine the gender of a baby at earlier and earlier stages of pregnancy. Oriental culture has long valued sons over daughters. So where both sex-determination procedures and abortion are easily available, female fetuses are being aborted in large numbers, unbalancing male/​female birth ratios. The feminist movement is now in the paradoxical position of, in effect, demanding the female’s right to abort her female fetus.

What a Mother Feels

As with other medical procedures, abortion carries with it a measure of risk and pain. During pregnancy the mouth of the womb, or cervix, is tightly closed to keep the baby safe. Dilation and insertion of instruments can be painful and traumatic. The suction abortion may take 30 minutes or so, during which some women may experience moderate to intense pain and cramping. With saline abortion, premature labor is induced, sometimes with the aid of prostaglandin, a substance that initiates labor. The contractions may last hours or even days and may be painful and emotionally draining.

Immediate complications from abortion include hemorrhage, damage or tears to the cervix, puncture of the uterus, blood clots, anesthesia reaction, convulsions, fever, chills, and vomiting. Danger of infection is especially high if parts of the infant or placenta remain in the womb. Incomplete abortion is commonplace, and surgery may then be necessary to remove decaying tissue left behind or even the uterus itself. Government studies in the United States, Britain, and the former Czechoslovakia suggest that abortion greatly increases the later chances of infertility, tubal pregnancy, miscarriages, premature birth, and birth defects.

Former U.S. surgeon general C. Everett Koop observed that no one had done “a study on the emotional reaction or the guilt of the woman who has had an abortion and now desperately wants a baby that she cannot have.”

Studies of abortion should have included in their control groups chaste young Christians who remain virgins out of respect for life and God’s laws. Such studies would have found that these enjoy healthier relationships, greater self-esteem, and lasting peace of mind.

What an Unborn Baby Feels

How does it feel to an unborn baby to be nestled securely in the warmth of its mother’s womb and then suddenly be assaulted with deadly force? We can only imagine, for the story will never be told firsthand.

Most abortions are performed in the first 12 weeks of life. By this stage the tiny fetus practices breathing and swallowing, and its heart is beating. It can curl its tiny toes, make a fist, turn flips in its watery world​—and feel pain.

Many fetuses are wrenched from the womb and sucked into a jar by a vacuum tube with a sharp edge. The procedure is called vacuum aspiration. The powerful suction (29 times the power of a home vacuum cleaner) tears the tiny body apart. Other babies are aborted by dilation and curettage, a loop-shaped knife scraping the lining of the womb, slicing the infant to pieces.

Fetuses older than 16 weeks may die by the saline abortion, or salt poisoning, method. A long needle pierces the bag of waters, withdraws some of the amniotic fluid, and replaces it with a concentrated salt solution. As the baby swallows and breathes, filling its delicate lungs with the toxic solution, it struggles and convulses. The caustic effect of the poison burns away the top layer of skin, leaving it raw and shriveled. Its brain may begin to hemorrhage. A painful death may come in hours, though occasionally when labor begins a day or so later, a live but dying baby is delivered.

If the baby is too developed to be killed by these or similar methods, one option remains​—hysterotomy, a cesarean section with a twist, ending life instead of saving it. The mother’s abdomen is opened surgically, and almost always a live baby is pulled out. It may even cry. But it must be left to die. Some are deliberately killed by smothering, drowning, and in other ways.

What a Doctor Feels

For centuries physicians have embraced the values expressed in the venerated Hippocratic oath, which says in part: “To none will I give a deadly drug, even if solicited, nor offer counsel to such an end, and no woman will I give a destructive suppository [to produce abortion], but guiltless and hallowed will I keep my art.”

What ethical wrestlings confront doctors who terminate life in the womb? Dr. George Flesh describes it this way: “My first abortions, as an intern and resident, caused me no emotional distress. . . . My discontent began after many hundreds of abortions. . . . Why did I change? Early in my practice, a married couple came to me and requested an abortion. Because the patient’s cervix was rigid, I was unable to dilate it to perform the procedure. I asked her to return in a week, when the cervix would be softer. The couple returned and told me that they had changed their minds. I delivered their baby seven months later.

“Years later, I played with little Jeffrey in the pool at the tennis club where his parents and I were members. He was happy and beautiful. I was horrified to think that only a technical obstacle had prevented me from terminating Jeffrey’s potential life. . . . I believe that tearing a developed fetus apart, limb from limb, simply at the mother’s request, is an act of depravity that society should not permit.”

A nurse who stopped assisting with abortions told about her job in an abortion clinic: “One of our jobs was to count the parts. . . . If the girl goes home with pieces of the baby still in her uterus, there can be serious problems. I’d take the parts and go through them to make sure there were two arms, two legs, a torso, a head. . . . I have four children. . . . There was a huge conflict between my professional life and my personal life that I couldn’t reconcile. . . . Abortion is a hard business.”

WHEN Jehovah God bestowed the privilege of childbearing on the human family, what a gift it was! A beautiful baby would arrive to be received by the waiting arms of a happy couple who loved each other and were ready to cherish and care for this little product of their marital union. Only joy would await the family as the child’s life unfolded.

But the sin of Adam and Eve brought tragic consequences to the babies born into the human race. As a result of sin, our first mother was cursed with distress and physical pain as she brought forth children. And the sinful environment into which their offspring came made childrearing a formidable challenge. Hence, in today’s complex world, it is not surprising that the conception of a child is often met with anything but joy. Yet, what is the Creator’s view of the unborn? Has it shifted with the changing tides of morality? Surely not. His view of and concern for the unborn children of the world remains constant.

The Scriptures make it clear that within the mother a unique individual human is developing. Life begins at conception. Birth into the world only reveals to man the child that God has already seen. Ezekiel speaks of “every child opening the womb.” (Ezekiel 20:26) Job describes “the doors of my mother’s belly,” and calls miscarriages “children that have seen no light.”​—Job 3:10, 16.

Note Jehovah God’s tender regard for the delicate life as it grows in the womb. He said to Jeremiah: “Before I was forming you in the belly I knew you, and before you proceeded to come forth from the womb I sanctified you.” (Jeremiah 1:5) David said: “My bones were not hidden from you when I was made in secret, when I was woven in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw even the embryo of me.” (Psalm 139:15, 16) Job calls God “the One making me in the belly,” who proceeded to “prepare us in the womb.”​—Job 31:15.

But what of God’s concern for the despairing expectant mother who does not want the child? Of all persons, the Creator realizes the heavy responsibilities of parenthood. If an expectant mother, though in difficult circumstances, chose to keep her baby out of respect for godly requirements, would he not bless her decision? A parent could and should rightly pray for his help in rearing a happy child. In the pages of his Word, God has already given the finest advice available on raising children. Applying Bible principles in family life will yield blessed results. The joys and rewards of raising godly children outweigh any sacrifices made along the way, as any proud parent can testify.

Does Jehovah view matters any differently if the baby was the product of rape or incestuous relations? Though the act against the mother was criminal, the baby is not to blame. Terminating its life would only counter one act of violence with another. Certainly Jehovah realizes the emotional trauma such victims experience and can help mother and child to cope with the aftermath in a balanced way.

What if a doctor informs a pregnant woman that carrying her child full term may put her life in danger? Dr. Alan Guttmacher stated: “Today it is possible for almost any patient to be brought through pregnancy alive, unless she suffers from a fatal illness such as cancer or leukemia, and if so, abortion would be unlikely to prolong, much less save life.” The Encyclopedia Americana states: “Since most women can be brought safely through pregnancy even with serious medical problems, few abortions need to be performed to protect the mother’s health. Most abortions are sought to avoid having a child.” So such situations are quite rare. However, if it does occur at the time of delivery, then the parents must make a choice between the life of the mother and that of the child. It is their decision.

Is it any wonder that the Creator of life has placed clear guidelines on the use of our procreative powers? In his eyes, making a life that one does not intend to care for is sin, just as taking a life is sin.

To be sure, the debate will continue till this system’s end. But as for the Creator of life, Jehovah God, as well as those who cherish his laws, there is no question at all. Life is precious​—a gift to be nurtured and cherished from its very beginning.