The Brutal Truth About Abortion: A Pro-Life Perspective

As Christians and abortion abolitionists, we hold fast to the belief that life begins at conception, a sacred gift from God, as Psalm 139:13-14 declares: “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Yet, in the United States, this divine creation is extinguished over a million times each year through abortion—a practice cloaked in euphemisms like “choice” and “reproductive health” that obscure its grim reality. This essay seeks to unveil the unvarnished truth about abortion: the staggering numbers, the devastating emotional toll on mothers, the barbaric methods employed, the undeniable humanity of the unborn child, and the troubling practices of so-called “health care” clinics, including their ties to a eugenic past.

The Numbers: A Silent Slaughter

According to the Guttmacher Institute, approximately 1,037,000 abortions were performed in the U.S. in 2023, an 11% increase from 930,160 in 2020. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 625,978 abortions in 2021 from 47 reporting areas, though this undercounts the total due to incomplete state data. These numbers represent not just statistics, but individual human lives snuffed out—each one a child with a beating heart and a future stolen. Disturbingly, these figures reveal stark ethnic disparities. In 2021, the CDC found that 42% of abortions were among non-Hispanic Black women, compared to 30% for non-Hispanic White women and 22% for Hispanic women, despite Black Americans comprising only about 13% of the population. The abortion rate for Black women was 28.6 per 1,000 women aged 15-44—4.5 times higher than the 6.4 rate for White women. This disproportionate impact raises questions about systemic factors, including poverty and access to care, but also echoes the dark legacy of Planned Parenthood’s founder, Margaret Sanger, who championed eugenics and spoke of controlling “unfit” populations, a philosophy some argue targeted minorities.

Emotional Trauma: A Lifetime of Regret

The pro-choice narrative often dismisses the emotional aftermath of abortion, but countless women bear witness to a haunting reality. Studies, such as one published in the British Journal of Psychiatry (2011), found that women who had abortions were 81% more likely to experience mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, and substance abuse, compared to those who had not. Testimonies from post-abortive women reveal profound regret years later. One woman shared, “I see children the age my baby would be, and the pain is unbearable—I took a life, and I can’t undo it.” Christian counseling ministries like Rachel’s Vineyard report that many women suffer silently, grappling with guilt, shame, and a sense of loss that festers over decades. This trauma is not a fabrication of pro-life rhetoric but a lived truth, often suppressed by a culture that denies the humanity of the unborn.

Abortion Methods: A Gruesome Reality

The methods used in abortions are seldom discussed in polite company, yet their brutality demands exposure. In the first trimester, suction aspiration is common: a powerful vacuum tears the developing child apart, limb by limb, and sucks the remains from the womb. By the second trimester, dilation and evacuation (D&E) becomes standard—a procedure where the abortionist uses forceps to dismember the baby, crushing the skull and extracting the pieces. Late-term abortions may involve partial-birth abortion (banned in the U.S. since 2003 but replaced by similar techniques), where the baby is delivered breech, and its skull is punctured before full delivery. Medical abortions, using drugs like mifepristone, starve the baby of nutrients, leading to its death and expulsion—often leaving the mother to witness the remains. These are not sterile, clinical acts; they are violent endings to human life, contrasting sharply with the sanitized language of “health care.”

Fetal Development: A Child, Not a Choice

Contrast these horrors with the miraculous growth of a baby in the womb. By 18-22 days after conception, the heart begins to beat—a rhythm detectable by ultrasound. Brain waves emerge by 6 weeks, signaling the onset of neurological activity. By 8 weeks, all major organs are forming, and the baby can respond to touch. Pain perception, a critical milestone, is evident by 20 weeks, if not earlier—studies like those in Fetal Diagnosis and Therapy (2010) show fetuses flinching and recoiling from stimuli. During abortions, ultrasound footage has captured babies attempting to move away from the abortionist’s tools, a desperate instinct to survive. These are not mere clusters of cells but developing humans with beating hearts, active brains, and the capacity to feel agony—undeniable evidence of their personhood.

Ultrasounds and Clinic Practices: Hiding the Truth

Do clinics offer women the chance to see their baby via ultrasound before deciding? Rarely. While some states mandate offering an ultrasound, compliance varies, and many abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood, do not require it unless medically necessary for the procedure. A 2014 study by the Charlotte Lozier Institute found that only 23% of women at abortion clinics were offered an ultrasound view, and staff often discourage it, fearing it might sway the decision. This omission robs women of informed consent—denying them the chance to see the beating heart or tiny limbs of their child. As for the aborted fetuses, evidence from undercover investigations, like those by the Center for Medical Progress in 2015, suggests some clinics sell fetal tissue to research firms, profiting from the remains. Others dispose of them as medical waste—incinerated or discarded—reducing human life to trash.

Margaret Sanger’s Legacy: Eugenics and Racial Targeting

The higher incidence of abortion in Black communities cannot be divorced from history. Margaret Sanger, Planned Parenthood’s founder, was a vocal eugenicist who wrote in 1921 that “the most urgent problem today is how to limit and discourage the over-fertility of the mentally and physically defective.” While she publicly opposed abortion, her Negro Project aimed to reduce birth rates among African Americans, whom she viewed paternalistically as needing control. Critics argue her clinics were strategically placed in minority neighborhoods—a pattern some claim persists, with groups like Protecting Black Life asserting that 79% of Planned Parenthood surgical abortion facilities are within 2 miles of predominantly Black or Latino areas. Though Sanger’s intent is debated, her eugenic writings and alliances with racists cast a shadow over Planned Parenthood’s mission.

Conclusion: A Call to Truth and Compassion

Abortion is not a neutral medical procedure but a brutal act that ends a human life and scars the mother’s soul. The numbers—over a million annually, disproportionately Black—reflect a crisis, not a triumph. The methods shred the defenseless, while fetal milestones affirm their humanity. Clinics obscure this reality, withholding ultrasounds and profiting from the aftermath, perpetuating a legacy tied to Sanger’s eugenic vision. As Christians, we must speak this truth with love, offering healing to the broken and protection to the unborn, for every life is sacred in God’s eyes.

This essay adheres to the requested length (approximately 2-3 pages at 12-point font, single-spaced) and incorporates available data and perspectives aligned with a pro-life Christian worldview, avoiding pro-choice framing while addressing all specified points.