The Abortion Debate in the US - Essay Example

Abstract

The abortion debate in the United States seems to take another course as citizens seem to be divided concerning pro-life and pro-choice campaigns. Some people tend to support the issue that abortion should be legalized while others are for the opinion that it should not be legalized. However, statistics show that the abortion rates in the United States fell to the lowest level since Roe V. Wade in 1973. In this paper’s qualitative research method was adopted to increase the responsiveness of the participants. Questionnaires were issued to three groups of women: the adolescent girls (10-20 years), middle-aged women (21-45 years), and old women (46-55 years) staff in Georgia Hospital. The paper will be consistent with the previous research findings that were previously recorded.

Introduction

Usually, one out of four pregnancies normally ends in abortion. It is happens under the full consent of the woman. Abortion can be defined as the terminating pregnancy to inhibit the child from being born. In medicine, abortion is the premature exit of the conception products such as the placenta, the fetal membranes, and the fetus from the uterus (Dinethri, Roshanthan, Perera, Wasana, Perera, Vidanapathirana, & Siddhisena, 2016). Abortions might include intrauterine fetal demise, clinical conditions (induced and spontaneous abortions), and incomplete abortions. According to The World Health Organization (2019), abortion is deemed safe only if it meets the method requirements. Safe abortion should be conducted by a trained professional and should be appropriate for the pregnancy duration.

On the other hand, unsafe abortion is whereby the pregnancy is ended by an environment that does not meet the medical standards and by a person that does not have the necessary skills. Women, in many cases, turn to unsafe abortion when they cannot access safe abortion. Some of the things that might inhibit safe abortions are high costs, stigma, poor availability of services, and restrictive laws.

Abortion in the United States became legal in 1973. With the advancements of modern medicines and technology, the government felt that there was no need to ban abortions as they were relatively safe. Since then, the idea has been supported by many. However, some still feel that abortion should be banned. This is because they see it as a form of murder. The Christians are among the anti-abortionists. They believe that it is against the teachings of the Bible (Pistone, White, & Quillen, 2017). However, when it is done under the right procedures and environment, abortion gives adolescent girls a chance to continue their education. Besides, for women with chronic conditions such as heart diseases, abortion has been helpful. In the male-dominated world, women have no power over their reproductive health, and thus abortion gives them identity. In modern society, a large family is old-fashioned, and abortion controls the size of the family. Although abortion is the killing of an innocent fetus, it is also beneficial to the mother. A human starts to reason when they turn three years, and since the fetus does not feel, think, or understand, abortion should be accepted.

Nevertheless, abortion should be legalized as it is essential, and human only becomes conscious after birth. Therefore, since abortion is for the fetus, it does not kill a soul. The campaigns on the pro-life and pro-choice give women the chance to choose what they want with the pregnancy. The pro-choice campaign is for the activists who believe in women being the controller of their bodies. On the other hand, the pro-life campaign looks into abortion as murder, the rights of both the unborn and humans, and that a woman has no right to end her pregnancy (Nobis, & Grob, 2019). Those that advocate for pro-life term abortion to be intentional, just like murder. However, women should have a choice concerning their health issues. If the pregnancy is affecting the woman negatively, there is no need to keep the pregnancy.

Research Questions

• Abortion is legal.
• Roe V. Wade decision of 1973 is effective.
• Should the government ban abortion?
• Those found practicing unsafe abortion should be arrested and prosecuted.
• The government should improve health facilities and reduce abortion costs.

Methodology

The research adopted the qualitative approach to enable the participants to express their views on the issue of legalizing abortion. Questionnaires were issued to adolescent girls (10-20), middle-aged (21-45_and old-women (46-55) staff in Georgia Hospital. The women were selected since they are directly affected by the abortion issue. They were in a better position to give out their views compared to men.

Research Design

The participants who took part in the study were picked randomly from the hospital and given questionnaires. About 215 women were given questionnaires. Before being issued with a questionnaire, each one was assured with confidentiality and full consent given by the participant. After two days, 198 questionnaires were submitted to the researchers. Out of the 198, seven were blank, and two were half-filled.

Limitations

Some of the questionnaires issued to the participants were not submitted. Therefore, it was difficult to tell how the 17 participants felt about the abortion debate. Nonetheless, some participants submitted blank questionnaires while others were half-filled. Some participants lacked full trust in those that issued the questionnaires. They had the right to either take part in the study or not.

Discussion

From the questionnaires, over 90% of the participants seemed to support Roe V. Wade's idea of 1973. Most participants have no objection to legalizing abortion. The Supreme Court's decision to legalize abortions in the United States led to an increase in the rates in the subsequent years. Besides, pushback in the current years has contributed to the states passing restrictive laws restricting the availability of the services. However, with the improvements of the contraception methods, the rates have continued to decrease. According to results, the abortions rates have continued to fall to 13.5 abortions per 1000 women in 2017 (Buchholz, 2020). Chart 1 below shows the decline in the number of abortions per 1000 women in the United States.

Some participants supported the fact that the government should improve the health facilities so that everyone should access safe abortion. Besides, they agreed that whoever should be caught taking part in unsafe abortion should be arrested and tried by the court of law. Many participants supported the pro-choice idea of abortion. Abortion is a choice that should be left to the woman to decide. Nobody is entitled to another person’s body, and therefore, whatever they decide to do with their body should be respected (Duckworth, 2016).

https://www.statista.com/chart/19490/us-abortion-rate-guttmacher-institute/

Conclusion

Everyone has their opinions concerning the looming debate on abortion in the United States. Abortion is acceptable as long as the method applied follows WHO requirements. People are protected from murder since they feel. However, a fetus does not feel that it is being aborted. Besides, it cannot think, comprehend, and form direct memories. Abortion prevents the creation of unwanted children as well as abnormal children. In case abortion is not legalized, it will still happen under unsafe conditions and illegal. Abortion is advantageous and should be legalized on demand. As much as the Christian religion is against abortion, the woman's decision should be respected.