Abortion is the voluntary removal of an embryo or a fetus from the uterus in order to end a pregnancy. Many believe that abortion is wrong because it takes the life of an unborn person, while others believe that the fetus does not have a life and for that reason the mother should have the right to choose to abort. Abortion should be banned. It is morally and ethically wrong because it kills a fetus, which at this stage is a person because it has its own DNA; it brings a lot of psychological and physical problems to the mother; and it is unnecessary because there are other options available besides this procedure.
Many argue that a human life begins only at birth, after the baby has left the mother's womb and can survive on its own; however, the fertilized egg has a distinctive DNA. "About the Unborn Child" proves that human life begins at the moment that the male sperm becomes one with the female ovum. The new cell, called the zygote, has its own human DNA, which makes the little fetus a person. According to Sagan, "It is also quite clear that the earliest human embryo is biologically alive. It fulfills the four criteria needed to establish biological life: metabolism, growth, reaction to stimuli, and reproduction." "As far as observable science is concerned, human life begins at conception" (About the Unborn Child). At eighteen days the fetus has its first palpitations; at twenty-one days the blood starts to pump through the circulatory system; the sixth week brainwaves are detected, and by ninth week from conception, all the structures necessary for pain sensation are functioning. These biological functions show that the fetus has a life even at the earlier stages of development.
These biological facts alone prove that the fetus feels the excruciating pain when its body gets ripped apart in pieces until it dies. The process of second trimester abortion begins the night before by inserting a laminarium to swell the cervix partially, then metal rods are inserted the next day into the neck of the womb until it allows the water sack to be broken breaking (Eclipse of Reason).
