A Right to Die or a Right to Life?       Wth the Roe vs. Wade decision in 1973 questions have been raised on both sides, concerning abortion versus life.  Does the mother have the right to choose to have an abortion, or does the unborn baby have a right to life?   With the Terri Schiavo case, did her husband justly carry out her so-called wishes by euthanizing her, or did Terri have a right to life in her disabled state?  Although these questions are valid and controversial, they can be summed up in one question: Are abortion and euthanasia different words for murder, or do they uphold the American ideals of justice, truth, and equal rights for all?       When someone speaks of murder, an imaginative picture of a big black figure creeping down the backs stairs of a dirty apartment clutching a dripping trenchant knife, immediately pops into our minds.   One who performs mass murders is categorized with Hitler, and King Herod with the murder of the innocent children, not with medical doctors.   When do you define the beginning of life?  At birth or conception?  "As soon as he has been conceived, a man is a man"   It is important to realize that a baby’s heart starts beating three weeks after conception.  Does abortion stop that beating heart?  Abortion, often misunderstood to have no bad effects, does affect the doctors, the economy, society, the mother, the baby, and the world.       Since 1973 there have been approximately 47,282,923 abortions  in the United States alone.  In that time 47 million Americans did not grow up, get jobs, or pay Social Security.  During this time, many manufacturing jobs were outsourced to companies in China and India, whose workers did not pay Social Security.  Forty-seven million American children did not need food, toys, clothing, shelter, and teachers, which could have provided many people with jobs.  Abortion is taking it’s toll on America  causing economic decline, due to a lack of producers and/or buyers. Probably most of the women that have an abortion, do not know the severe consequences and mind boggling effects it will have on their mental and emotional health.  Some  mothers have died, because of  the abortion, while most are still suffering from its hurtful effects. Studies have shown that the mother often suffers from mental illness and severe anxiety post abortion.  The doctors and nurses who help in this horrific procedure do indeed realize what is taking place: an innocent life is being lost.  If for some reason the abortion goes wrong, and the woman dies, the cause of death is never atributed to the abortion.  Abortion is one of the most frequently performed surgical procedures in the United States, although it is the only surgical procedure which does not involve follow-up care by the abortionist, nor does he actively deal with complications.         The population of the world is intensely suffering because of abortion and contraception.  Why is the world population declining?  In order to maintain any country’s population, every woman should produce 2.1 children.   Unfortunately, the countries in the European Union have an average of 1.3 child/woman.   The United Nations predicts that by the year 2050, Russia's population will have declined by 25 million people – Japan's by 21 million – Italy's by 16 million – Germany's and Spain's by 9 million. Europe and Japan will lose half of their population in the next 100 years.  World population is declining so how can abortion be considered necessary.       Many people believe that the world is overpopulated, and that mass starvation is just around the corner.  In Genesis (9:7) God says to “Be fruitful and multiply, bring forth abundantly on the earth and multiply in it.”  When such a command comes from God, we should not ignore it.  China has a ‘One Child’ policy, meaning that a family may only have one child.  In China, a boy is often more highly favored than a girl because it is believed he will take care of his parents when they are elderly and infirm.  As a result, the girls are often abandoned or aborted, leaving the ratio of boys to girls, 120 boys to every 100 girls.          No one truly realizes the effects abortion has on the elderly.  In 1973, the same year that abortion was legalized in the United States, the first voluntary euthanasia societies were formed in the Netherlands.  Because the elderly have begun to live longer than was expected when Social Security was set up by President Roosevelt, and jobs have been given to people overseas who do not pay Social Security, the fund may soon die.  The elderly, although they live longer, do not die in perfect health, but with maladies such as Alzheimer’s disease, which can be expensive.   Their burdened families, in an effort to give them comfort, may do the exact opposite by refusing them food and water.  A recent, well-known case of euthanasia was Terri Schiavo.  Some doctors claimed that she was in a ‘vegetative state’ from an accident in her home in which she was oxygen deprived.  A ‘vegetative state’ means that the patient is basically brain dead and cannot respond to other people, although declaring someone to be in this state describes them to be less than human – a mere vegetable.         "The sick person in a 'vegetative state', awaiting recovery or a natural end, still has the right to basic health care (nutrition, hydration, cleanliness, warmth, etc.), and to the prevention of complications related to his confinement to bed. He also has the right to appropriate rehabilitative care and to be monitored for clinical signs of eventual recovery".       Terri Schiavo was denied assisted nutrition and hydration which means that she was forced to die by starvation.   Her husband claimed that she had once expressed a wish that she would never want to be a burden on anyone.  A world renowned neurologist and Nobel Prize nominee, Dr. William Hammesfahr declared that Terri was not in a ‘vegetative state’ and that he could help her condition through proper medical treatment, but he was waved aside.   Eventually, her feeding tube was removed in March of 2005.  After two weeks of starvation and dehydration, Terri finally died on March 31, 2005.  According to the medical examiner Dr. Jon Thogmartin, who performed her autopsy, ‘No amount of therapy or treatment would have regenerated the massive loss of neurons [to her brain].’  Whether or not Dr. Jon Thogmartin was right, Terri was still a human being who deserved the right to life, not euthanasia.       Actually, the right to die is not a right because whether you like it or not, you are going to die anyway.  But every person has the right to life, from the little unborn baby to the elderly man who needs a feeding tube.  As Ronald Reagan said in 1980, "I've noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born."   When the Church declares that unconditional respect for the right to life of every innocent person - from conception to natural death - is one of the pillars on which every civil society stands, she "wants simply to promote a human State”.       Euthanasia and abortion kill innocent, unwanted life.  Life is a gift from God, and it should not be thought of as burdensome or inconvenient.  If man were to kill his neighbor, he receives a sentence to be put into prison for murder; but if a doctor performs an abortion or euthanizes someone, he only receives a paycheck.  It is our duty to preserve life in all of its stages.