Since the infamous 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, taking life in the womb has been legal in America. It is estimated that prior to 1973, there were about 100,000 illegal abortions a year. In 1974 the number of abortions rose to around 900,000, and since 1975 each year’s total has topped one million.

 The December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami killed an estimated 230,000 people. As terrible as this tragedy was, the death toll from abortion in the United States exceeds the tsunami’s in just three months.

 More children die from abortion in one year in America than the total number of deaths in the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Gulf Wars combined. Reports indicate that since 1973 over 48,589,000 babies have been aborted in the United States.

 While these abortions are legal, they are not moral. The fetus, from the moment of conception, is a living human being. Years ago uncertainty surrounded the development and status of the embryo. Advances in science and technology have erased this uncertainty. We now know that from conception a baby possesses its unique chromosomal pattern, one that will direct its life until its end. A human being will never be essentially different from what it is in the womb. All it needs to live and develop is what the rest of us need: food, water, and oxygen.

 This development happens fast. At 2.5 weeks the fetus has blood cells and a heart. A week later that heart begins to pulsate. Technology makes clear that by the seventh week, the mother carries a small-scale baby in her womb.

 Our society becomes incensed whenever a toy manufacturer releases a product with some defect that might possibly harm a child. In the case of abortion, there is no doubt about the harm. It’s also been proven that the fetus from a very early stage of development—perhaps as early as the eighth week—is able to experience pain. That fact led Judge Robert Bork to abandon his pro-choice position.

 Because life is such a precious gift, it must be protected and honored by all. Therefore, abortion—the taking of this gift of life—should be illegal, just as such killing is illegal in every other facet of our society.