What is abortion and in which cases it could be used - Essay Example

Topic: Abortion Inserts His/Her Inserts Grade Inserts 31 October 2008 What happens when an expectant woman becomes severely ill and on diagnosis, doctors suggest that part of her medication requires removal of the fetus in order to allow the woman to respond positively to medication What if a woman is raped and conceives but she is not in any way interested in having a kid or keeping the memories of rape with her, is she justified to terminate the pregnancy The aforementioned instances present difficult choices, which may arouse different perceptions among individuals in the purview of life. Nevertheless, in some cases, women, for their own reasons want to get rid of "accidental" pregnancies. Whether such reasoning is justifiable or not is amenable to discussion- what remains an enigma is whether the act of abortion is good or bad. According to MariAnna (2002), abortion is the obliteration of pregnancy by removing or inducing the expulsion of a fetus or embryo from the uterus, which results in death of the embryo or fetus, or is caused by death of the fetus. Nonetheless, abortion can also occur due complications arising in pregnancy, but is in most cases induced. Thus, there is a clear distinction between abortion and miscarriage: in the latter the termination of pregnancy is spontaneous, but an abortion is "intentionally" induced MariAnna (2002). The reasons for intentionally inducing abortion are the bone of contention. For instance, many people have viewed termination of pregnancy conceived from a rape case as a form of relief to the victim (woman); but religious groups such as Christians respect the right of everyone to have life. To them, abortion is an act whose shortcomings outweigh the benefits (MariAnna, 2002). In discussing abortion, Roe van Wade argued that the right to privacy includes a woman's verdict on whether to terminate her pregnancy or not (Riddle, 1999). However, van Wade added that such a preposition does not mean that a woman has an absolute right to terminate pregnancy (Riddle, 1999). This stance is used by many governments in the world to prohibit abortion. Such governments view a child as a part of the society whose rights the parent has no absolute authority over. The disadvantage of prohibiting abortion is that the perpetrators usually turn to backstreet operations, which may result in death of both the fetus and the parent. People tend to consider abortion operations conducted by medical experts as being "safe." As such, when doctors recommend that the life of a fetus should be terminated in order to save a mother's life, the case would be seen as genuine and therefore advantageous to the mother's life. However, there is a demerit: doctors swear by the Oath of Hippocrates in which life is valued. Therefore, abortion is ethically a contravention to the Oath of Hippocrates (Riddle 1999). It is common in family settings for pregnancies to occur when the families are not adequately prepared to handle the baby. Since women are the ones who provide most care to babies and understand the difficulties clearly, they would have an urge to terminate some pregnancies until they get ready. This they see as an advantage for them to prepare to have a child. In line with this, MariAnna (2002) noted that abortion is usually a private matter and that women would like to be so secretive about it. Therefore, in case a woman conducts an abortion without the knowledge of her husband she can hide the act but not the side effects. At one point the matter crops up to the spouse and this is one cause of family chaos (MariAnna, 2002). There may be medical reasons to justify abortion, but seemingly, many cases of abortions are not justified. For instance, in the United States, more than 4000 pregnancies are terminated each year (Price, 2007). This means that over 4000 women who conceive in the USA eventually enjoy the "freedom" of being without babies. If that is an advantage, it is limited to an individual. On a wider scale, over 4000 abortions per year are just ridiculous. It means that medical expenses are incurred; lives of the women involved are put at risk, and over 4000 babies are killed. Yes, babies, because fetuses are on their own living things only waiting appropriate time to be delivered (Price, 2007). There are situations when abortion seems paramount. For example, if a college lady becomes pregnant, keeping the pregnancy for nine months plus some more time to nurse the infant would mean that she misses one and a half academic years. Hence, to stop the "unnecessary burden" from piling up it is better to have the pregnancy terminated. The advantage is that the lady would complete her studies in normal time and with no extra burden (MariAnna, 2002). However, that involves looking at one side of the coin. There is a plethora of demerits of such actions. Without taking a religious respective, it is indisputable that the lady will live to have memories of the action in her entire life (MariAnna, 2002). Secondly, the lady would suffer emotional stress- she is bound to be a subject of discussion by her peers. Thirdly, abortion per se is not without risks -there is loss of blood, pain and complications which could negatively affect a woman's future attempts to conceive (MariAnna, 2002). Kiselica (1995) clearly summarized the advantages of abortion by noting that abortion is a time limited trauma that avoids the potential increased sense of loss and guilt, and might increase opportunity for young people to succeed in life. Perhaps this was in reference to the time that would be spent by a lady taking care of a baby she was not prepared for. However, the point is open to discussion. On the other hand, Kiselica (1995) highlighted the potential disadvantages of abortion by noting that abortion may represent a moral misdemeanor that induces guilt in the individual involved, as discussed in the case of a college lady above. Thus, the aborting women would always have feelings of guilt for having "murdered" or "committed sinful acts." My opinion of abortion is that it is ethically wrong, religiously unacceptable but somehow, medically justifiable. Hence, I opine that abortion has more cons than pros. To begin with, I view the possibility to conduct and abortion as one of the causes of increased immorality among the youth. Pregnancy is one of the most feared results of irresponsible sexual behavior, in the same league as HIV/AIDS. However, since unwanted pregnancy seems to have the unjustifiable solution of abortion, it is possible that young women will carelessly engage in sex, conceive and thereafter seek the services of an medical doctor or any other suited person to assist in terminating the pregnancy. I surmise that the process of abortion is painful in addition to being a health risk to both the mother and the fetus, and therefore disadvantageous. While family planning has been closely linked to abortion, it is now clear that some countries experience shortages of actively working generations and therefore have to import labor. In societies where women do not bear pregnancies until they deliver but rather terminate them, there is likely to be a discrepancy in the population structure. Such societies would have population pyramids that are characterized by more older people than the young. This is not the best population structure as it means that there would be more individuals who need care in future, over and above those who are to provide the care. If a nation can attribute shortage of labor to rampant abortion, this represents a case where abortion is ideally not a fine practice. Is an embryo or fetus as good as a baby In my opinion, yes. Even the enormous elephants begin their lives as embryos. In essence, the difference between a baby and an embryo or fetus is just time. With this perspective, I mean that to terminate the life of the unborn is equally as bad as killing a baby, a human being. It is sad seeing dumpsites filled with heaps of not just cobblers, but also innocent fetuses whose life is terminated without their consent. In such cases, abortion has no advantage in the purview of two human beings- the fetus and the mother. In common parlance, abortion is painful- literally and emotionally. But one would argue that that the physical pain can be quelled using anesthetics. Nevertheless, are all abortions done with the assistance of qualified personnel Absolutely not. Some women would attempt abortion on their own using unsolicited equipment or drugs. The consequence is more pain, injury or the worst of all, death of the victims attempting abortion. One can survive pain, injury or death due to abortion, but it is not easy to overcome the emotional pain- the trauma associated with abortion. The feeling of guilt of killing will tend to cloud a victim's life and hover around all her thoughts. This could be particularly worse in case a woman who once aborted fails in her future attempts to have a baby. But in the line of trauma, woman who is raped and conceives can be traumatized by the thought of caring for a baby whose father she resents and considers a criminal. Such a baby would grow as a subject of resentment from her mother, as the kid would be a stark reminder of the incidence of rape. This makes it difficult to be categorical on whether abortion is advantageous of detrimental. Medical experts may recommend abortion as the only way to save an ailing expectant woman's life. This is one of the most difficult phenomena to make a decision about. But I consider abortion in such a case an advantage in the context of the life of the patient and her family. The woman can still live to have other children if the abortion is done. In contradistinction, if the abortion is avoided and the anticipated happens, it would be a double loss- death of the mother and the fetus. It is clearly difficult to enumerate the advantages of abortion against its advantages, as issues such as family planning and the need to protect life are in perfect collision and make the advantages and disadvantages relative. Nevertheless, from my point of view, the demerits of abortion clearly outwit its merits. REFERENCES Kiselica, Mark S. Multicultural Counseling with Teenage Fathers: A Practical Guide. London: SAGE, 1995 MariAnna, Cara J. Abortion: A Collective Story. New York: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002 Price, Nelson L.2007 .31 Oct. 2008 Advantages of Abortion http://www.nelsonprice.com/index.php/p=12 Riddle, John M. Eve's Herbs: A History of Contraception and Abortion in the West. Harvard: Harvard University Press, 1999 Read More