Abortion access

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Basic facts and definitions
about pregnancy & abortion

A key quotation:

Dr. David Menton: "The question is not when does life begin, but when does a person begin?" From the video "Fearfully & wonderfully made."

Our rephrasing of Dr. Menton's quote: "The question is not when does human life begin, but when does a human person begin?""

Topics covered in this section:

• Definitions:
  • Glossary of terms relating to pregnancy and abortion: Part 1 Part 2
    
    
• Classifying views on abortion access as pro-life, pro-choice, etc
  
  
• Differences in meanings given to abortion and pregnancy terms by religious conservatives and others
  
  
• Basic facts about pregnancy:
  • The stages of development, starting with an from ovum & spermatozoon and, hopefully, ending with a newborn baby: Part 1  Part 2
    
    
  • The processes of pregnancy: A video showing what a developing pre-embryo, embryo, and fetus look like
    
    
  • Can a fetus feel pain?
    
    
  • Events before the start of pregnancy. Examples of contraceptives & aborifacients
    
    
• Facts about abortion:
  • Key question: When does human personhood start, and how do we proceed when there is no consensus?
    
    
  • Why do women seek abortions?
    
    
  • Reducing the abortion rate: a visitor's essay
    
    
• Information on abortion in the U.S:
  
  
  • Abortion data: About numbers, rates and ratios. Reducing abortion. Emergency contraception
    
    
  • Brief review of trends in C.D.C. abortion data, 1970 to 2006
    
    
  • Data from the lan Guttmacher Institute
    
    
  • More data on U.S. abortions: (Time into pregnancy; the age, race, etc. of women having an abortion)
    
    
  • The religion of U.S. women having an abortion
    
    
  • Still more data on abortion (Trends, crime, welfare, risks, etc.)
    
    
  • Factors that affect the abortion rate
    
    
• Methods of preventing pregnancy:
  • Birth control / contraceptive methods
    
    
  • Emergency contraception (a.k.a. EC and the morning-after pill)
    
    
  • Wal-Mart's refusal to stock this medication in the U.S. and Canada
    
    
• Methods of terminating a pregnancy: 
  
  
  • Early abortions, during the first few weeks of pregnancy:
    • Using Methotrexate & Misoprostol (up to about 5 weeks gestation)
      
      
    • Using RU-486 (up to about 7 weeks gestation)
      
      
      • RU-486 developments during 1999 & 2000
        
        
      • RU-486 developments from 2001 to the present
        
        
    • Manual vacuum aspiration (from about 3 to about 6 weeks gestation)
      
      
  • Abortions later in pregnancy:
    • Why are abortions delayed until the second or third trimester?
      
      
    • How are very late abortions performed
      
      
    • Surgical abortions (about 5 weeks gestation and later)
      
      
    • D&X (a.k.a. Partial Birth Abortion) (very rare; usually done in emergencies)
      
      
  • Ectogenesis: the development of artificial wombs: Part 1  Part 2   Part 3
    
    
• Public opinion polls on abortion access:
  • In the U.S.
    
    
  • In Canada

Related section:

• When does personhood begin? The new abortion battleground

Copyright © 1996 to 2015 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally published: 1996-DEC-20 (Not an error. This web site started up in 1995-APR)
Last updated 2015-OCT-18
Author: Bruce A Robinson

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