Now that the controversial abortion drug, RU-486 (mifepristone and misoprostol) has been unleashed on the public, and with a vengeance I might ad, women who were formally uneasy about aborting their embryos (babies) within the womb, can now safely do so in the privacy of their own homes thanks to the recent Food and Drug Administrations approval this past week of that drug.

While practically every religion on earth abhors abortion, charging that a woman's right to an abortion is in fact tantamount to murder, and while tempers flare on both sides of the aisle from anti-abortion activists as well as the right-to-lifers regarding the moral implications of such a drug, I have taken the opportunity to quote from reliable sources on the issue of abortion in general as there has been and will be much said on this topic in the coming weeks and months.

However, before I do, I would like to present some startling facts and statistics garnered from various sources that may have been unknown to those women who are considering an abortion and may be going through the psychological withdrawals associated with having had an abortion:

Quoting from a February 27, 1998 article by Phil Sherrod (excerpts)

Abortion is the number one cause of death in the United States. The figures below do not count illegal or unreported deaths due to abortions, nor the deaths of mothers because of abortions nor a higher incidence of breast cancer later due to abortions.

Below is a partial list:
Cause of death # of deaths
Induced abortion 1,508,651
Cardiovascular diseases 948,088
Cancer (all types) 529,904

And the list goes on and on. Every two weeks (14.7 days) there are as many deaths due to induced abortions as there were in the entire Vietnam war. (55,000). Source: CDC 1996

According to "Abortion Surveillance USA, 1992. Table 6A" 49% of induced abortions were performed 8 weeks after gestation, 25%- 10 weeks after gestation, and approximately 20,000 babies were aborted after 21 weeks (about 5 months) of gestation.

Regarding the heated issues with these kinds of statistics staring the activists in the face on both sides of the fence, as quoted from Hanna Rosin's article in The Washington Post, September 29th 2000:

Rev. Pat Mahoney of the anti-abortion group Christian Defense Coalition is quoted as saying, "And now women are personally culpable," he added. "The baby doesn't get sucked out into a tube where they can't see it. They have to do it themselves. It personalizes the murder."

And quoting from the September 29th 2000 edition of the Coloradoan, Peggy Loonan, director of Life and Liberty for Women, an abortion rights education group said she was, "Absolutely thrilled," referring to the FDA's recent ruling calling it, "A step in the right direction."

Now the clinical reality of how RU-486 works (sources: National Abortion Federation; Food and Drug Administration; Journal of American Medical Women's Association):
THE PROCESS

1. In a doctor's office, the patient swallows a mifepristone pill during the first 7 weeks of pregnancy.
2. The drug causes the embryo to detach from the uterus lining.
3. Two days later, the patient returns to the doctor's office to take a second drug, misoprostol, which causes contractions needed to expel the embryo.
4. Within two weeks, a third appointment is required to confirm the abortion is complete.

HOW IT WORKS IN THE BODY
1. Ovaries increase progesterone for an embryo.
2. The drug (RU-486) blocks the progesterone receptors.
3. With less progesterone, the lining of the uterus thins and weakens. The embryo detaches from the lining.

Now that I have presented the facts regarding one of the most horrendous decisions since Roe Vs. Wade in 1973 regarding the legalization of a woman's right to an abortion, I would like to quote from various spiritual sources, particularly Vedic, regarding the tragic consequences of the implications of having such a procedure. While intelligent leaders of most world religions believe that it is immoral to kill the fetus or baby within the womb, the ancient Sanskrit texts of India go much further in delineating the repercussions of aborting the fetus in the womb.

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, (1896-1977) Founder-acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness and regarded as India's greatest scholar, author, cultural ambassador, philosopher and spiritual leader, has, in many of his books stated his position on abortion. Below is but a drop from the ocean of his teachings:

"They are killing the baby in the womb. How cruel! In this age of unwanted population, man is losing his compassion. When you kill a living entity, even an ant, you are interfering in it's spiritual evolution, it's progress. That living entity must again take on that same life form to complete it's designated life term in that body. And the killer must return to pay for damages."

Elsewhere, Srila Prabhupada has written about how animal-slaughter and abortion are on the same level:
"You are killing innocent cows and other animals-nature will take revenge. Just wait. As soon as the time is right, nature will gather all these rascals (referring to those of demoniac and atheistic tendencies) and slaughter them. Finished! They'll fight among themselves. (referring to war) It is going on. Why? This is nature's law. Tit for tat. You have killed. Now you kill yourselves."

"They are sending animals to the slaughterhouse, and now they'll create their own slaughterhouse.this is nature's law. It's not necessary that you be sent to the ordinary slaughterhouse. You'll make a slaughterhouse at home. You'll kill your own child-abortion. This is nature's law."

"Who are these children being killed? They are these meat-eaters. They enjoyed themselves when so many animals were killed, and now they are being killed by their mothers."

"People do not know how nature is working. If you kill, you must be killed. If you kill the cow who is your mother, then in some future lifetime your mother will kill you. Yes! The mother becomes the child, and the child becomes the mother."

India's greatest apostle on "ahimsa" non-violence to every living creature, Mohandas Gandhi once wrote: "It seems to me clear as daylight that abortion would be a crime."

One could quote from many sources both eastern as well as western in regard to the evils of abortion ad-infinitum.

If we are to progress as a peoples, that is to say, if we are to evolve spiritually and are cognizant of a living God and how we as human beings are to interact with nature and see that all living beings are part and parcel of God as spirit soul, then it is essential that the world raises it's consciousness through a revolution that can only take place by not seeing ourselves as separate from God and that what is really moral and right is to follow the laws of God. While many world religions teach moral principles such as the Bible, Talmud and Koran etc., one should avail themselves the opportunity to hear and read the ancient texts known as the Vedas as to how we can best proceed as compassionate human beings both individually as well as collectively. Then there will truly be world peace.

For further research one may read "Bhagavad-gita As It Is" and "Srimad-Bhagavatam" by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

Vaikuntha Dasa (Wallace Dorian) has been an ISKCON devotee since 1979. He is a writer currently living in Colorado-USA. Vaikuntha@hotmail.com