The Abortion Controversy

An abortion is the expulsion of a baby from the womb before it is sufficiently developed to survive. It can be a) elective – meaning that the mother elects   to  end the pregnancy, or b) spontaneous – meaning that the forces of nature have caused her to lose it (miscarriage). We shall, of course, confine ourselves to  “elective” abortion, which shall henceforth be referred to only as “abortion”.
 
Abortion is the most frequently performed surgery in the world. About 1.6 million abortions per year are performed in the United States alone.

The issue of abortion is as old as civilization. Questions, such as when does life  begin, have been asked for centuries. With advancing genetic technology in the past several years, and the advent of transvaginal sonography  (visualization of the uterus and surrounding structures through an ultrasonic probe placed in the vagina), we now have strong scientific proof that life starts at conception.

As submitters who have the pure Quran for the first time, we have an awesome duty to educate ourselves and become knowledgeable on this issue, so we can factually discuss and explain it to our children and our peers.

It is important to understand some basic terminology before we proceed.

A human being’s genetic material is composed of 46 chromosomes. Each chromosome contains a specific number of genes. Two of these chromosomes determine the sex of the child. Each parent gives 23 chromosomes to the child, the mother through the egg from her ovaries (called an oocyte) , and the father through his sperm. At conception, the oocyte is penetrated by the sperm and forms a “zygote” which contains 46 chromosomes. The sex of the  child is determined at this  time.  Looking at the two chromosomes that determine the sex, the oocyte  has only  “X” type chromosomes while the sperm can have either “X” or “Y” chromosomes. If the fertilization occurs with an  “X” from the sperm, the zygote will have two “X” chromosomes (one from the mother and one from the father), and the child will be girl. If fertilization occurs with a “Y” chromosome from the sperm, the zygote will have an “X” and a “Y” chromosome and will develop into a boy. So the gender depends on the father’s sperm, just as the  Quran tells us (75:37).

contains the 46 chromosomes and floats freely in the tube. It is called a zygote. Male or female, it looks exactly like a “drop” under the microscope.

Within five to seven days the “drop” moves to the uterine cavity, becomes attached to the wall of the uterus, and starts “hanging” from it. The diagram on the next page represents the sequence of events.

At 18 days after conception (e.g., if the mother’s period started on November 1, and conception took place on November 14 or 15, then the 18th day is December 3), the heart is not only formed, but pumping blood through the body. The pulsating heart and the embryo’s movement can be demonstrated very clearly by transvaginal ultrasound (by December 6 or 7), at a time when the woman is hardly conscious of the fact that she has missed her period. Within two more weeks, still an embryo, the child has arms and legs, a brain, and has multiplied in size 10,000 times, only six weeks (December 29-30) after conception! At just 40 days after conception, the child’s brain waves can be recorded.

By 42 days, the skeleton is formed and the brain is controlling the movements of muscles and organs. The unborn child reflexively responds to stimulus. All of this  before the earliest abortions take place!