Abortion: Harmful or Simple Procedure - Book Report/Review Example

Abortion: Harmful or Simple Procedure The issue of abortion is one of the most sensitive debates that havebeen held in the United States. Essentially, the term abortion is denoted as removal of unwanted pregnancy. Never the less, there are two common ways in which abortion takes place all over the world: spontaneously and intended. According to Baumgardner (19), the issue of abortion has both proponents and opponents who debate as to whether the procedure should be done. On one end, proponents argue that women have the right to decide if they need the pregnancy or not and as such should be allowed to exercise the right against their bodies. On the other end, the opponents of this procedure argue that termination of pregnancy is illegal as it amounts to killing of an innocent human being, which goes against the will of God. Abortion in United States is a simple procedure in which women should be allowed to take as a right. Moreover, as a legalized issue it becomes safe when women are not in positions to keep pregnancies. According to Major et al., in the American Psychological Association Task Force on Mental Health and Abortion (863) the public debate pertaining to mental health implications of abortion could be traced back to 1987. It is about this period that the then United States president Ronald Reagan gave directions to the then surgeon General Everett Koop to prepare a general report pertaining to the public health effects on abortion both psychologically and physically. In his letter to the president, the surgeon further indicated that there was no tangible answers pertaining to psychological causes of abortion since the matter had been concluded amicably by the doctors involved. As a matter of fact, several issues emanated for the conclusion, which was made public at about the time when President Reagan needed it. For instance, some people argued that part of the conclusion suggested that women who took up the procedure had similar psychological issues as those of women who gave birth to wanted or unwanted children (Major et al. 864). Apparently, abortion should be perceived as a legal procedure particularly in the United States. According to Levitt and Donohue (379), it is evident that the justification of abortion has greatly reduced the rate of crime that is related to it. Basically, the rate of crime reduction was experienced over two decades ago soon after abortion was legalized. Levitt and Donohue further argue that soon after the Roe v.Wade Case was concluded in 1973, five states within the United States that had began allowing abortion started to witness adverse decline in unsafe abortion and death of women. As a result, around 1990 legalized abortion accounted for more than half the number of crimes related to abortion. Similarly in his works, Potts (158) articulates that the issue of abortion should be taken with utmost importance like it is done with issues such as driving in many countries. In essence, he argue that the issue of abortion procedure has been known to be a fair simple procedure from as early as 1960. In this regard, the procedure has proved to be safer today. For instance, Potts says that with the presence safety and legalization, the first trimester surgical abortion is believed to take rough five minutes. Of importance to note is that, women are in a better position to understand their health issues as compared to men. Scholars in reproductive health argue that, women should be allowed to follow their conscience. Needless to say, responsibility plays a huge role when it comes to easing some of the sufferings that are related to unwanted abortion and subsequent abortion both unsafe and safe. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), around half a million women are said to die yearly from undergoing illegal abortions. In fact, it has been argued that more caution is directed to other diseases such as HIV/ AIDS, Malaria, Small pox as would be compared to abortion. As a result, many women die across the globe due to illegal abortions and lack of proper medical attention. Additionally, deaths emanating from abortion are mostly fuelled by lack of proper implementation of government policies. In light of this, it is wise to evaluate the importance of abortion as being a simple procedure and not a harmful way of killing unborn children. According to social scientists, the abortion opinion has emerged as an important issue to people in United States. As such, the Americans argue that it is a classic issue where they can easily come up with opinions without the utilization of great technical knowledge. In addition, abortion was stipulated as a procedure where relative stability was perceived at both individual and aggregated level. Levitt and Donohue (381) argue that, the justification of abortion has the possibility of leading to reduction of crime by both reducing the sizes of cohorts and lowering the capital offending rates of the affected cohorts. This means that when cohorts attain teenage there will be reduced crimes unlike when the simple procedure is not legalized. In addition, Levitt and Donohue (382) articulate that children born after abortion was legalized have reduced rate of criminal activity. Similarly, Potts confirms that most of the women who opt for this simple procedure are those who risk giving birth to children who might turn out to be criminals. Moreover, teenagers who have engaged themselves in unprotected sex and unmarried women may also need the simple procedure if they are not in positions to give birth. Another issue that may lead women to undergoing the simple procedure pertains to optimization the interval between child bearing. This is purely because the ability of women giving a nurturing environment to children is highly likely to fluctuate over time with reference to age education and income. Baumgardner (58) argues that abortion should continually be regarded as open secret. Basically, he says that although numerous research have been conducted by both the proponent and opponents of the abortion debate just to affirm their facts on this issue, it is important to understand the women and their issues pertaining to reproductive health. Work Cited: Baumgardner, Jennifer. Abortion & Life. New York: Akashic Books.2008. Print. Levite, Steven and Donohue, John. “The Impact of Legalized Abortion on Crime.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics.116.2 (2001), 379-420.Print Major, Brenda et al. “Abortion and Mental Health.” American Psychological Association, 64.9 (2009), 863-890. Print. Potts, Malcolm. “Abortion Perspectives.” The European Journal of Contraception and Reproductive Health Care. 2.15 (2010), 157-159. Print. Read More