Many people don’t understand what an abortion actually is, the effects of one, or why there are people marching in Washington D.C today protesting the Roe v. Wade ruling.

Women may feel that abortion is their only way out of a bad situation, but instead of ending a life, women should consider other options such as maternity homes. Maternity homes provide necessities to the mother and child such as housing, which they do up until a year after birth. If the woman feels she is unfit to parent, maternity homes will also aid in finding adoptive parents. Two maternity homes here in St. Louis are The Sparrow’s Nest and Our Ladies Inn.

There is one abortion provider in Missouri, Planned Parenthood, and they abort earliest at nine weeks. At this point, the child’s heart has been beating for at least five weeks and is able to move in the mother’s womb. Planned Parenthood provides services such as aspiration and D & E (dilation and evacuation.) During an aspiration, a tube is inserted into the patient and the uterus is vacuumed. To ensure all of the fetus has been removed, a curette is used to scrape the uterus, which sometimes leaves scars that lead to infertility. Before the D&E process may begin, the fetus’s skull is penetrated with a needle through the mother’s abdomen so that the fetus dies before dismemberment.

According to Planned Parenthood, some women experience negative feelings after abortion, which is why they are associated with Exhale, a hotline for women who have aborted and become depressed.

The reason why there are people marching in Washington D.C today is because abortion is not a solution. It’s not only deadly to the fetus, but also destructive to the mother, both physically and emotionally.