Dear Amartano,How are you feeling today, my friend? I hope all is going better today than when you wrote.As for me, I am doing pretty well. I have to admit, I think the reality of graduation is making it easier to deal with taking the 20 hours of classes I have this quarter. Add to that fact that I have been thinking about your situation enough to make me forget about the madness of classes. I know you are kind of stressing about the decision your girlfriend has before her about her pregnancy. I would too, man. For no matter what road she walks down, you both have to live with the consequences.I am glad you told her about what I shared with you last week. I think every women needs to understand that abortion is not as easy and painless as many believe. However, I am still concerned for both of you. There is something you said that made me realize there are still a few facts you need to hear.You wrote: “Jason, I am glad you cared enough to tell me the truth about how this decision could affect my girlfriend’s life. I don’t think either of us thought abortion was that big a deal, but even with those facts, it’s her future we have to think about. That’s the only life really involved in this decision.”Amartano, my friend, I don’t think you see what you are saying. Do you realize your girlfirend’s life is not the only life held in the balance of this decision? What about the baby?I don’t know what you know about the development of the human body, but when you look at it from the physiological standpoint, there are so many facts that say the unborn baby is a viable life.Consider some of these facts from Moore and Persaud’s The Developing Human, 5th edition.Eighteen days after conception, the heart begins forming. At 20 days, foundations for the brain, spinal cord and nervous system are laid. Four days later, the heart begins to beat.By day 45, arms and legs are budding, facial features are taking shape and the heart’s energy output is 20 percent that of an adult. The child’s skeleton is formed, brain waves are recorded and reflex and spontaneous movements have begun.Once the eighth week rolls around, the child is well proportioned, every organ is present, the heart beats sturdily, the stomach is producing digestive juices, the liver makes blood cells, kidneys begin to function and taste buds are forming.By the end of the tenth week, fingerprints are being engraved, the child can bend fingers around an object, the body is sensitive to touch and the child is capable of squinting and swallowing.After another two weeks, the baby can kick, turn its feet, curl and fan toes, make a fist, turn its head, open its mouth and the child practices breathing.And this is all in the first trimester; the first stinkin’ trimester!I guess, in my mind, when I see how quickly all this takes place, the process of human life amazes me. I am not sure how any person can look at this information and say that the unborn child is not human life.Amartano, I know you probably feel overwhelmed by the blitzkrieg of facts I just laid down before you. Yes, it’s a lot to take in all at once, especially considering that you are personally involved.Yet these facts still do stand, and you need to see the truth that they reveal.It shows there is more than one life here at stake with the decision your girlfriend is on the threshold of making.I hope you consider the things I have said. I don’t want you or your girlfriend to suffer years later from the regret of denying the truth.Talk to you later. Your friend.
Jason George is a senior majoring in journalism. If you wish to respond to him, e-mail him at [email protected].