Abortion Risks
Abortion is the termination of pregnancy before
birth, resulting in, or
accompanied by, the death of the fetus. Some
abortions occur naturally because a
fetus does not develop normally. Or
because the mother has an injury or disorder
that prevents her from carrying
the pregnancy to a full term. This type of
abortion is commonly known as a
miscarriage. Other abortions are induced.
Induced abortions are
intentionally brought on, either because a pregnancy is
unwanted or presents
a risk to a woman’s health. Induced abortion has become
one of the most
ethical and philosophical issues of the late 20th century.
Modern medical
techniques have made induced abortions simpler and less
dangerous. But in the
United States, the debate over abortion has led to legal
battles in the
courts, in the Congress of the United States, and state
legislatures. It has
proven to be spilled over into confrontations, which are
sometimes violent,
at clinics where abortions are performed. There are many
different methods in
having an abortion. Induced abortions are performed using
one of several
methods. The safest and most useful and appropriate method is
determined by
the age of the fetus, or the length of pregnancy, which is
calculated from
the beginning of the pregnant woman’s last menstrual period.
Most
pregnancies last an average of 39 to 40 weeks, about 9 months. This period
of
time is broken up into three parts known as trimesters. The first
trimester
is the first 13 weeks, the second trimester is from the 14 to 24
week and the
third trimester lasts from the 25th week to birth. Abortions in
the first
trimester of pregnancy are easier and safer to perform, that is
because the
fetus is smaller. Abortions in the second and third trimesters
are more
complicated procedures, which present greater risks to a woman’s
health. In
the United States, a pregnant woman’s risk of death from a
first-term abortion
is less than 1 in 100,000. The risk increases by about 30
percent with each week
of pregnancy after 12 weeks. Although it is so
dangerous many women continue to
have abortions. There are even some drug
medications used to terminate a
woman’s pregnancy. In a method commonly
referred to as the morning-after pill,
a woman is given large doses of
estrogen which is a female hormone within 72
hours of unprotected sexual
intercourse and again 12 hours later. This high dose
stops the fetus from any
further development at the earliest stages after
conception. Or the point
when a man’s sperm fertilizes a woman’s egg.
Typical side effects of the
morning-after pill may include nausea, headache,
dizziness, breast
tenderness, and sometimes fluid retention. During the first
seven weeks of
pregnancy a combination of two drugs can be given in pill form to
make a
fetus. A pregnant woman first takes a drug which blocks progesterone,
which
is a hormone needed to maintain pregnancy. About 48 hours later she
takes
another drug which is a hormone like chemical produced by the body that
causes
contractions of the uterus, the organ in which the fetus develops.
These
contractions expel the fetus. Misoprostol, which is another kind of
drug can
also induce abortion when it is mixed with a different drug that
interferes with
cell division. A doctor first injects a pregnant woman with
one kind of drug and
about a week later the woman takes another drug to
induce contractions and to
expel to fetus. When you combine these two kinds
of drugs it usually ends
pregnancy effectively according to the 95 percent of
the woman who have taken
them. Although, some woman experience cramps,
bleeding and nausea. Some of the
cases are more serious, such as pneumonia,
edema, arrhythmia and they effect the
heart and lungs which may cause death.
After the first 16 weeks of pregnancy ,
abortion becomes more difficult. One
method that can be used during this period
is called dilation and evacuation.
Which requires greater dilation of the cervix
than other methods. It also
requires the use of suction of a large curette and a
grasping tool called a
forceps to remove the fetus. Dilation and evacuation are
complicated
procedures because of the size of the fetus and the thinner wall,
which
usually stretch to accommodate a growing fetus. Bleeding in the uterus
often
occurs. Dilation and evacuation must be performed under general anesthesia
in
a clinic or hospital. It is typically used in the first weeks of the
second
trimester but can be performed up to the 24th week of pregnancy.
Intact dilation
and extraction, also referred to as a partial birth abortion,
consists of
partially removing the fetus from the uterus through the vaginal
canal, feet
first, and using suction to remove the brain and spinal fluid
from the skull.
The skull is then collapsed to allow complete removal of
the fetus from the
uterus. Abortion has become one of the most widely debated
ethical issues. On
one side there are individuals who are for woman’s
reproductive rights,
including the right to chose to have an abortion. On the
other side there are
the pro- life advocates, who oppose abortion except in
extreme cases, as when
the mother’s life would be threatened by carrying a
pregnancy to term. At one
end of this ethical spectrum are pro- choice
defenders who believe the fetus is
only a potential human being until it is
viable. Until this time the fetus has
no legal rights. The rights belong to
the woman carrying the fetus, who can
decide whether or not to bring the
pregnancy to a full term. At the other end of
the spectrum are pro-life
supporters who believe the fetus is a human being from
the time of
conception. The fetus has the legal right to life from the moment
the egg and
sperm unite. Between these positions lies a continuum of ethical
and
political positions. A variety of ethical arguments have been made on
both sides
of the abortion issue, but no consensus or compromise has ever
been reached
because, in the public policy debate, the most vocal pro-choice
and pro-life
champions have radically different views about the status of a
fetus.
Embryology, which is the study of fetal development, offers little
insight about
the fetus’s status at the moment of conception, further
confounding the issue
for both sides. In addition, the point when a fetus
becomes viable is constantly
changing with every passing year medical
advances make it possible to keep a
premature baby alive at an earlier stage.
The current definition of viability is
generally accepted at about 24 weeks
gestation; a small percentage of babies
born at about 22 weeks gestation have
been kept alive with intensive medical
care. In the abortion debate, the
combination of medical uncertainties and
emotional political confrontations
has led to considerable hostility . However,
for many people, the lines
between pro-choice and pro-life are blurred. The
issue is also far less
polarized. Many women, who consider themselves pro-life
supporters, are
concerned about the danger of allowing the government to decide
what medical
options are available to them and the possible threats to
reproductive
rights. Similarly, many women, who contemplate their view as the
pro-choice
view, are deeply saddened by the act of abortion and seek to minimize
its use
through more education about abortions, prevention’s of pregnancy and
the use
of birth control. Many people on all sides of the controversy feel
the
political debate has led to a stalemate because it ignores the nuances of
the
issue. In response, participants in the abortion debate find common
ground in
the admission that the issue is surrounded by complicated,
difficult questions
that require more than simplified pro-life or pro-choice
supporters. Abortion
has been practiced around the world since ancient times
as a crude method of
birth control. Although many religions forbade or
restricted the practice,
abortion was not considered illegal in most
countries until the 19th century.
There were laws during this time,
however, that banned abortion after quickening
which is the time that fetal
movement can first be felt. In 1803 England banned
all abortions, and this
policy soon spread to Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
Throughout the
middle and late 1800s, many states in the United States enacted
similar laws
banning abortion. In the 20th century, however, many nations began
to be
lenient about their laws against abortion. The former Union of
Soviet
Socialist Republics (USSR) legalized abortion in 1920, followed by
Japan in
1948, and several Eastern European countries in the 1950s. In
the 1960s and
1970s, much of Europe and Asia, along with Canada and the
United States,
legalized abortion. An estimate of about 50 million people
have abortions a
year. Of this number a lot of the abortions that are
performed are done
illegally which lead to immediate deaths. Illegal
abortions are more likely to
be performed by untrained people, in unsanitary
conditions, or with unsafe
surgical procedures or drugs. In many European
countries it is more likely for
woman to have illegal abortions. In countries
where abortion is legal less than
one percent of pregnancy related deaths are
caused by abortion. In the United
States. the legalization of abortion
became an issue in 1966, when Mississippi
passed a law permitting abortion in
cases of rape. In the following four years,
other states started to legalize
abortion to include cases in which a pregnancy
threatens a woman’s health,
the fetus has serious abnormalities, or the
pregnancy is the result of sexual
relations between close relatives. The Supreme
court decided in the early
1973 two cases known as Roe v. Wade and Doe v.
Bolton, that abortion was
legal for any apparent reason before the 24th week of
pregnancy. The reason
for this is because the fetus has not yet become viable.
The ruling of
the Supreme Court allowed individual states to change the law by
restricting
abortion after viability. Except in certain cases when the pregnancy
presents
a threat to the woman’s health, abortion is allowed no matter how
many weeks.
In 1976 the Supreme Court recognized the right of pregnant girls
under the
age of 18, know as a minor, to terminate her pregnancy. The court
ruled three
years later that states may require consent of one of the parents of
the
minor, who wants a abortion. However, consent is not needed if a
confidential
alternative form of review, such as a judicial hearing. A judicial
hearing is
made for young women, who had chosen not to involve their parents in
their
decision of abortion. The Supreme Court of The United States also ruled
that
a judicial court may approve a minor’s decision of abortion, in place of
her
parents, only if the judge finds that the young girl is capable to make
the
decision on her own. If the judge finds the minor not mature enough to
make the
decision of abortion on her own, the court can rule whether the
termination of
pregnancy is in the minor’s best interest. Since these
decisions many states
have enforced parental consent, or notification laws.
Although some laws have
been argued in courts for years. For Example in 1990,
Hodgson v. Minnesota, the
Supreme Court upheld a law requiring that prior
notice of the minor’s parents
must be provided before and abortion is
performed. In a similar case that
happened in Ohio, the Supreme Court upheld
a requirement for notice or consent
of only one parent. In 1980 the Supreme
Court upheld another ruling restricting
the availability of federal Medicaid
funding for abortions that were medically
necessary. After that ruling,
abortion payments for the poor women were limited
to cases in which the
pregnancy threatened the woman’s life. Also in 1977, the
Supreme Court
allowed the city of St. Louis, Missouri to exclude elective
abortions from
procedures performed in a public hospital. In 1983, the court
found it
unconstitutional to require that a woman considering an abortion should
be
given information developed by the state, talking about risks
and
consequences and that they should wait 24 hours after receiving the
information
about abortion. Also in 1986, the court struck down a law in
Pennsylvania
requiring that state- developed materials about abortion being
offered to woman
that are undergoing the procedure of abortion. In 1989 there
was a Supreme Court
decision in Webster v. Reproductive Health services, and
since then the court
has permitted several state imposed restrictions to
stand. The Webster case
upheld a Missouri law that prohibits the use of
public facilities or public
employees for abortion and requires a physician
to determine the viability of a
fetus older than 20 weeks before performing
an abortion. In 1991, in the case of
Rust v. Sullivan, the court upheld a
federal policy that prevented health care
providers who received federal
funding from engaging in any activities that
encouraged or promoted abortion
as a method of family planning. This policy was
later annulled by President
Bill Clinton in 1993. One year earlier in 1992 the
court decided Planned
Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, which
was a case in which
the court reaffirmed the central ruling of Roe v. Wade, that
no undue burden
on access to abortion should exist for a woman over 18 years of
age prior to
fetal viability. That case also permitted states more freedom in
regulating
abortion. The court overturned rulings which made it possible for
states to
once again require that a woman be given information about abortion
risks and
consequences and wait 24 hours before actually performing the
procedure. The
last bill enacted by the Congress was passed in 1996, banning the
practice of
partial birth abortions. President Clinton rejected the law because
it failed
to permit use of the procedure when a fetus displays abnormalities, or
when
carrying a pregnancy to term presents a serious threat to the woman’s
life or
health. Since then many states have passed the law banning use of
the
procedure. Since the Supreme Court ruling in 1973, pro-life supporters
have
worked continuously to reverse the decision. They had state and
federal
officials to place restrictions on women seeking abortions or on
individuals
providing abortions. In 1994, the Freedom Of Access to Clinic
Entrances Act was
enacted, which made it a federal crime to use force, threat
of force, or
physical obstruction to injure, intimidate, or interfere with
reproductive
health care providers and their patients. During that same year,
in a case known
as Madsen v. Women’s health Center, the Supreme Court upheld
the basic right
to protest in peaceful, organized demonstrations outside
abortion clinics. More
than two decades since the Supreme Court first upheld
a woman’s right to
abortion, the debate over the morality and the legality of
induced abortion
continues in the U.S. Although pro-life and pro-choice
supporters still continue
to argue the issue. A growing number of individuals
and organizations are kind
of leaving the debate in search of common ground.
Many people hope that
broadening the arguments to include a wider spectrum of
perspectives will
improve the chances of an end to the issue. The argument
for abortion is that
women who accidentally get pregnant have the option to
get an abortion. Instead
of just having the baby and leaving it stranded
abortion will not leave you in
that situation. In some cases the pregnancy is
unwanted and therefore that is
why I think abortion should be legal. I feel
that the woman should be able to
decide what happens to their body. Some
woman must have the abortion other wise
it is a threat and risk to their
lives and to their health. Some parents might
not be understanding and when
they find out that their child is about to perform
and abortion, the parents
won’t let the child do it. Therefore the child is
forced to have an illegal
abortion which is extremely dangerous. On the other
hand, the argument
against having abortion is that it can be very risky. Some
abortions are so
severe that they can kill you. Most of the abortions don’t
necessarily have
to protect the mothers health since she wants to kill the baby.
If the
mother doesn’t want to baby so badly than she should put it up for
adoption.
Majority of the abortions performed in the United States are done in
an
unskilled way, which leads to either woman dying or having horrendous
side
effects such as the inability to have children. The woman who is having
the
abortion should be responsible to prevent a pregnancy from the beginning
of the
sexual relationship. In conclusion I feel that abortion should be
legalized
through out the world. I think an amendment should be passed for
all those
unwanted mothers who either can’t afford to have a baby or who just
don’t
want it. Obviously my position on this case is to allow the choice of
an
abortion in any case. I hope I’ve proved my arguments for having an
abortion.
In the future, I aspire that abortion will be legal in all
states and not just
selected states through out the
country.
Bibliography
Abortion; James, Simon Rita - 1991, New York
The Clash of Absolutes; Tribe,
Lawrence H.- 1989. Chicago Abortion and
Dialogue- Pro Choice, Pro life and
American law: Colker, Ruth- 1992,
Florida Abortion- Facts on file handbooks to
Constitutional issues:
Tushnet, Mark V.-1985, New York Abortion: Flanders, Carl
N.- 1984,
Illinois Abortion-The Supreme Court decisions: Shapiro, Ian- 1990,
New
York -New York Times.com -Abortion.com