I know a few people who believe that abortion isn't as relevant a topic as American involvement in war. These same people also happen to believe that the lives lost in war are worse than those lost to abortion.
If you know me at all, you also know that I disagree completely... So I decided to compare the two on the basis of number of lives lost....
Total American War Casualties (from Revolutionary War to July 26, 2006): 1,140749 (Taken from cnn.com)
Total American Deaths by Abortion since Roe v. Wade (1973): 47,282,923.
That's only 41.45 times MORE abortion deaths than war casualties.
Now, let's break it down.
The American Revolution begain in 1775. It is now 2006. So that is roughly 231 years.
Roe Vs. Wade was enacted in 1973. It is now 2006. So that is roughly 33 years.
In 231 years, there have been 1,140,749 deaths as a result of war. That's an average of 4938.31deaths per year.
In 33 years, there have been 47,282,923 deaths as a result of abortion. That's an average of 1,432,815.85 deaths per year.
Had Roe v Wade happened in 1775, when the deaths from war in American began being recorded, then 330,980,461 babies would have been killed. That's 290.14 times more deaths by abortion than war. (By the way, I didn't just pull that number out of my butt--for you cynics, I took the average number of abortions performed each year and multiplied it by the number of years since the beginning of the Revolutionary War.)
Now, I'm sure that most abortion supporters believe that life starts at birth, but that's a fallacy...It actually starts at conception.
At the instant of conception, that baby has it's own completely unique DNA.
By day 22, right about the time a mother would realize she is pregnant, the baby has it's own heartbeat.
By day 28, at 1/4 inch long, the baby is about 10,000 times bigger than he or she was at conception.
By week 6, in the first trimester, brain waves can be recorded, and by week 10 the baby's body is sensitive to touch.
By week 13, in the beginning of the second trimester, the baby's sex can be identified.
In month 4, the baby exhibits signs of REM (rapid eye movement) while sleeping, indicating that he or she is dreaming. Also in month 4, the baby's heart pumps up to 6 gallons of blood every day.
As early as month 5 and into month 6, still in the second trimester, a baby can be born prematurely and still have a 50% survival rate.
In months 7 and 8, a baby recognizes his or her mom's voice and when born prematurely has a 90% survival rate.
To me, it is infintely worse to kill an innocent child who didn't ask to be concieved before he or she ever has the chance to experience life. While I think that every life lost is sad, and while I don't like war, it seems completely different to me than lives lost to abortion.
At least when people are killed in war (with the exception of WWII and the Vietnam War), they had a choice to sign up for the military. And if you sign up for any branch of the military without thinking that you MAY have to fight, and even die in a war, you're pretty much an imbecile.
A nation's armed forces are in place to defend and fight for that country. They are the people who volunteer to go into harm's way...and they are the ones who volunteer to risk and possibly lose their lives in a war or military engagement. I deeply respect every member of our nation's armed forces, and I am INFINITELY grateful for the sacrifice that our armed forces have made for me, as well as the rest of our country. And while I wish for none of our troops to be killed, it still seems even more tragic that these babies are being killed with no say in their lives at all. At least the men and women who have died in combat have had a chance to live their lives---even if only for a brief amount of time.
I've heard that you should judge a nation on how they treat their weakest members. If that's true, it's no wonder that other countries dislike us!! After all, we make a common practice out of killing our weakest members--our unborn children. It is an abomination, and it's time for Americans to quit killing our babies.