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THE SILENCING OF ABORTION About five million women in the U.S. become pregnant every year. 78% of these pregnancies are unintended. And 1.3 million end in abortion.(Planned Parenthood,2000) The term "abortion" actually refers to any premature expulsion of a human fetus, whether it naturally occurs, as in a miscarriage, or artificially induced, as in a surgical or chemical abortion. Today, the most common usage of the term "abortion" applies to artificially induced abortion.(Religious Tolerance,2000) In 1973, a pregnant single women, Jane Roe, arose an argument challenging the constitutionality of a Texas law that prohibited abortion except for medical recommendation to save the mother’s life. The Supreme Court handed down its Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion in all 50 states during all nine months of pregnancy, for any reason, medical, social, or otherwise. As a footnote, today Jane Roe is an outspoken anti-abortion activist.(AbortionTV,2000) Abortion ends a pregnancy by destroying and removing the developing child. That baby’s heart has already begun to beat by the time the mother misses her period and begins to wonder if she might be pregnant. Surgical abortions are usually not performed before seven weeks.