e embryo can then take the nourishment that it needs through these two things. The umbilical cord and the placenta provide nourishment to the baby from the blood of the mother so that it can grow primitive limbs and organs. The baby’s heart starts beating by the time it has become three weeks old (that is also eighteen days) (Stewart, 1996a). By the age of forty-five days, the baby has detectable brain waves. Arms, legs, fingers, toes, and feet are all formed by the eighth week, and by the twelfth week, the baby will begin to suck its thumb. Most babies can live outside of the womb by the time they are twenty to twenty-eight weeks old. Birth generally will occur when the baby is anywhere from thirty-eight weeks old to forty weeks old.StatisticsEvery year there are more then one point six million abortions performed in the United States alone (Baker, 1995). As of 1987, twenty-one percent of women in America that were between the ages of fifteen and forty-four had an abortion. If this rate, persists, then this percentage will grow, and by the time menopause is reached, forty-six percent of the women in the United States will have had at least one abortion (Lunneborg, 1992). These estimates can also be Abortion 5made because for every five children born in the United States, there will be two abortions performed. British Sociologist Collin Francome has predicted that more than four out of every ten American women will have at least one abortion in their life (Lunneburg, 1992).Of the one point six million abortions performed per year only five to six percent are done to benefit the health of the mother (Stewart, 1996b). That leaves ninety three percent of the abortions are not down for the health of the mother. Another forty percent of these abortions are down by women who have had previous abortions (David, 1995).According to Congress, about 89% of abortions are done in the first trimester (three months); they total ...
