Issues of Abortion - Term Paper Example

Abortion law and the Youth Introduction-a quick look into history Abortion has been a bone of contention among social thinkers, religions, and political leaders for quite some time now. Even the proclaimed liberal society of America could not solve the issue in an amicable manner due to the large number of complex issues intertwined. There was no law banning abortion in the United States before 1800s. The first law came in Connecticut banning abortion after quickening in the year 1821. Within five decades, many states introduced laws controlling abortion. However, this confusing situation changed in 1973 when the Supreme Court declared all state laws prohibiting abortion illegal in Roe v. Wade. Following this, in 1976, the Hyde Amendment came into existence, restricting the use of Medicaid funds for abortion. It was again revised in 1977, allowing the use of Medicaid funds for abortion in cases of rape, incest, and severe and long-lasting damage to woman’s health. In planned parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey (1992), the Supreme Court ruled that a woman has the right to abortion before fetal viability, but allowed states to restrict access to abortion as far as it does not cause undue burden on women seeking abortion. In the year 2000, history saw another twist in the law when the Supreme Court held in Stenberg v. Carhart that the Nebraska statute banning partial-birth abortion was unconstitutional on the ground that prohibiting abortion in the second trimester amounts to “undue burden” on women. Though the federal government tried to impose a ban on abortion in 2003, the same was successfully challenged by National Abortion Federation in the court. Thus, abortion is legal in the US though different states have different rules on the basis of government funding, access, and privacy for minors. In the case of youth, most states require parental involvement to obtain abortion, in the form of either consent or notification or both. The notification law requires medical practitioners to notify the youth’s parents about her demand to get an abortion, and the parental consent law requires that medical practitioner should collect written permission from the youth’s parents before conducting abortion ("National Abortion Federation: In the States.")1. Some states offer the possibility of a judicial bypass. Thus, it becomes evident that most states have restrictive laws regarding abortion among youth. Prevalence of abortion in American youth In order to understand how this legal situation affects the youth, it is necessary to understand the extent of abortion among the American youth. According to National Abortion Federation statistics, nearly a million teenagers in the US become pregnant. Out of them, about 78% is unintended. The Federation website points out that 80% of the American youth start intercourse before they reach the age of 20. More importantly, about a third of the girls under 13 reports sex forced on them. In addition, nearly one-fifth of the American women become pregnant at least once before they turn 20. Thus, evidently, though positively intended, the restrictive abortion law in the US will have a lot of significant disadvantages for the youth. Risk in communication and possibility of torture Reports show that more than 60% of the teens who get abortion inform their parents about the situation. In addition, it is seen that the younger the youth is, the higher the chances that they will inform their mother about the situation (NAF). However, the people who are affected by this law are the remaining 40%. They are not in a position to inform their parents due to various reasons. According to NAF, there are various reasons which prevent a youth from disclosing such information. They range from a family history of alcoholism, possibility of emotional and physical abuse, or when incest is the reason. In such cases, forcing the teenager to get parental consent will have a negative impact. Such teenagers are in danger of trying abortions themselves, thus putting their lives in danger. Some others depend on illegal abortions. In either case, the result is sinister; serious injury, death, or criminal charges. Hinders the teens from getting proper medical help These complicated laws in fact cause unnecessary delay in giving proper medical care; whether to give birth or to have abortion. The realization that health care providers will not offer help without due notification and consent stop some teenagers from approaching them in time. According to experts, when a woman is pregnant, she should seek medical care immediately. If the woman is planning to get abortion, the early weeks of pregnancy is the safest. Thus, this law of parental notification or consent causes unnecessary roadblocks in seeking medical help. Judicial bypass is rather intimidating No one will deny the fact that most people do not like going to a court for any legal procedure. So, it is really surprising to note that the says a girl who is not able to inform her parents about her pregnancy is supposed to a judge through a complicated legal system and face serious questioning by strangers on such a sensitive matter. In addition, it is well known to all the legislators that the extreme cases; youngest, poorest, and the least intelligent will not be able to use the legal system and judicial bypass. So, they are more likely to end up as teen mothers or adopt illegal abortion. Moreover, such a law gives power to the judge to decide whether a teenager should be allowed to do abortion. That means any wrong conclusion reached by a judge will have a very serious impact on the future of a teenager. She may be forced to give birth to a baby without any support from her parents or she might even be forced out of her home. The effect on the law on the number of teen birth According to the available statistics from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there is a steady fall in the number of teen birth rates after 1990. Between 191 and 2010, the rate dropped by 44%, and between 2009 and 2010, the decrease was nearly 9%. This decrease is visible in all races ranging from non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black, His panic, American India, and Asian ("Products - Data Briefs..)2. A similar fall is seen in teenage abortions also. Between 1970 and 2010, it fell by 68% among white teens, and 52% among Hispanic teens. Similar trend is visible in the case of all ethnic groups (Wind)3. Before reaching the conclusion that this trend is the result of the changed law, one should understand the fact that the primary reason behind this change is the fall in teenage pregnancy. After 1990, the teenage pregnancy among teenage Americans fell by 42%, and in 2008, the rate stood at 67.8 pregnancies per 1000 women (Wind). In the opinion of Sifferlin of Time Health & Family, the reason behind this decrease in pregnancy can be found in better education about safe sex, more contraceptives and less sex. She points out that this change is enough proof that sex education is necessary in schools in order to encourage safe use of contraceptives (Sifferlin, “What’s behind the drop..”). Thus, one gets an idea that restrictive laws on abortion among youth make little positive change in the situation. Medoff studied the question whether the restrictive abortion laws have a positive effect on youth sexual activity, pregnancy, abortion and early parenthood. The restrictive laws included non Medicaid funding, mandatory counseling laws, two-visit laws, antiabortion attitudes, and parental involvement. The study found that such laws have no positive effect on teenage pregnancy, abortion, or sexual activity. Moreover, it was found that parental involvement has a negative impact on the various factors. An analysis of the following data will prove that the laws certainly have a negative impact in various ways. Effect on education First of all, the data from The National Campaign to prevent Teen and Unplanned pregnancy shows that while just 6% of the young women do not get a diploma or a GED, the percentage of teen mothers who do not have the same is 34%.; and in addition, it is seen that out of all the teen female dropouts, 30% cite pregnancy or motherhood as the reason. In addition, this rate is higher among minority students (Shuger)4. More surprisingly, only less than two percent of young mothers manage to get a college degree before the age of 30. Thus, one reaches the realization that teenage parenthood is a leading cause of discontinuing education among teenage girls. Admittedly, this dropout at the teen age results in educational challenges in the lives of both the teen parents and their children. As a result of this, the teens will not be able to complete their education and start a good career. As a result, their children start their schooling at a disadvantage and show a poorer performance than the children born to older parents. For example, such children reach their kindergarten with less school readiness and this lack of readiness makes them underperformers throughout their education. The economic side The economic burden caused by teen parents to the national exchequer often goes unnoticed. According to reports, teen childbearing in the United States costs the government nearly 10.9 billion dollars in the year 2008. It is estimated that an average college graduate will make 1 million dollars more than a high school dropout. In addition is the stunning revelation that a high school dropout will cost the government 260,000 dollars in the form of lost earnings, taxes and productivity (Shuger). Thus, it becomes evident that the restrictive abortion laws have little effect on teen sex activity but serious impact on the lives of the youngsters who become parents at an early age. The other side of the coin However, it is not justifiable to ignore the other side of the issue. Study by Gissler et al shows that the teens that undergo abortion are two to four times more likely to commit suicide than normal women (Gissler, et al). Moreover, studies reveal that their chances of developing psychological problems are much higher than normal women. According to scholars, this leads to higher chances of troubled relationships in their future life (Marecek). In addition to all these issues, Sobie and Reardon report various issues ranging from drug and alcohol abuse and other self-destructive behaviors. A very serious issue brought to the fore by the scholars is replacement pregnancies. It is claimed that only 25% of the teens who undergo abortion manage to achieve a healthy psychological state after the procedure. The most prevalent attitude among them is to resort to replacement pregnancies. Studies show that nearly half of the teens who lost their pregnancy through abortion became pregnant again within 15 months (Wheeler). However, the problem is that as the situations that led to the abortion still exist, the repeat pregnancy is again aborted most of the time. At this point it is necessary to look into the physical issues involved in teen abortion. The study by Burkman et al shows that the chances of cervical lacerations during abortion are two times higher in teenage abortion than in the normal ones. In addition, the study reveals that the chances of pelvic inflammatory disease and endometritis are much higher in teenagers. The last point to be mentioned is the higher chances of breast cancer. Conclusion In total, it becomes evident that though teenage sex and pregnancy is a very complicated subject. Evidently, both abortion and parenthood have almost equally destructive effects on the teenagers. Once the teenager becomes pregnant, they are likely to suffer from some issues. In addition, it has become evident from the studies analyzed that the existing restrictive laws have failed to have any impact on pregnancy, abortion and parenthood in teens. Moreover, the law of parent involvement has a negative impact on the teenagers. Thus, to sum up, one can say that the existing abortion laws in the US only have a negative impact on the youth, if any. So, it is necessary to focus on better sex education for the teens instead of introducing more coercive laws. Works Cited J. Brind, et al. “Induced abortion as an independent risk factor for breast cancer: a comprehensive review and analysis”, J. Epidemiology & Community Health, (1996): 50:481. Print. R . T. Burkman, et al, “Morbidity Risk Among Young Adolescents Undergoing Elective Abortion”. Contraception, 30. 2 (1984): 99. Print. M. Gissler, et al. “Suicide after pregnancy in Finland: 1987-94: register linkage study”, British Medical Journal, 313 (1996):1431-1434. J. Marecek, “Consequences of adolescent childbearing and abortion,” in G. Melton (ed.), Adolescent Abortion: psychological & legal issues (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska press 1986) 96-115. Medoff,, Marshall H. "Unintended pregnancy and abortion access in the United States." International Journal of Population Research, 2012. (2012): Print. "National Abortion Federation: In the States." Prochoice.org, 2013. Web. 20 Dec 2013. . "Products - Data Briefs - Number 89 - April 2012." Cdc.gov, 2013. Web. 20 Dec 2013. . Shuger, Lisa. “Teen pregnancy and High School Dropout”. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Uplanned Pregnancy. Web 20 Dec 2013. Sobie, Amy and David Reardon. "Detrimental Effects of Adolescent Abortion | After Abortion." Afterabortion.org, 2001. Web. 20 Dec 2013. . Sifferlin, Alexandra. "What’s Behind The Drop in U.S. Teen Birth Rates Read more: What’s Behind The Drop in U.S. Teen Birth Rates | TIME.com http://healthland.time.com/2013/05/24/whats-behind-the-drop-in-u-s-teen-birth-rates/#ixzz2nz5B8kyy." Time Health & Family. 24 May. 2013. Web. 20 Dec 2013. . "Teen Abortions." Child Trends, 2013. Web. 20 Dec 2013. . S. R. Wheeler, “Adolescent pregnancy loss”, in J. R Woods, Jr. and J. L. Woods (eds.) Loss During pregnancy or in the Newborn period (Jannetti Publications, 1997). Print. Wind, Rebecca. "U.S. Teen Pregnancy Rate At Lowest Level In Nearly 40 Years." Guttmacher.org, 2012. Web. 20 Dec 2013. . Read More