Socio-Demographic Problems of Unsafe Abortion - Research Paper Example

 “Abortion is referred to as the process of terminating pregnancy at a stage before the fetus has attained the stage of viability”( Kapilasharmi, 2007). Another definition of abortion as provided by US National Library Medicine is that “An abortion is a procedure to end a pregnancy. It uses medicine or surgery to remove the embryo or fetus and placenta from the uterus” (Anderson, 2003). While considering the definition abortion in a philosophical angle, it is the denial of the right to be born. There had been high arguments globally with reference to social acceptability of abortion. As far as I am concerned, man has no right to kill, and abortion is no different from a brutal murder. The only difference is that while a murder is executed, the victim attracts the sentiments of the society, wherein the case of abortion, the whole social system conspires for the murder leaving no sentiments for the murdered. As for the medical science, the fetus is a just a white mass, but for me and an ethically thinking society, they are the future of the world. No one other than god holds the right to take their life. The medical consequences and principles of abortion are also worth careful review. The legalities in association with abortion also have been dealt in detail. The objective of this essay is to critically analyze the medical, philosophical and the legal aspects pertaining to abortion and to prove that justify that abortion must not be promoted. The arguments in support of abortion are also compared against the view pints put forward by the essay, contributing to the objective of the essay. The very definition of death in medical terms confirms abortion as murder. Medically, death is the seizure of heartbeats. If this process is imparted deliberately, it can be called murder or killing. Reading these facts together, it can be confirmed that abortion even in medical terms is literally a killing. Thinking on the other side, if seizure of heartbeats would mean death, automatically heartbeats would mean life. This further confirms the fetus as a matter with life. This must be read together with the fact that heart is formed in the fetus right after the 18th day in the womb. Subsequently heart starts to beat as well. The furthest date set for induced abortion as per the medical standard is at 28 weeks, and 20 weeks in developed countries where expert care is available. This spectrum of period would involve a lot number of babies with active heart beats. Thus abortion can very well be confirmed as a brutal act of killing. Some may pose the argument that the definition of death in relation with heartbeats is outdated and the modern medical resources utilize the electroencephalograph (EEG) to analyze the brain wave movement and accordingly is death defined. In this context as well, it should be noted that brain wave movements are detected in a fetus right from 40th day. Thus an abortion from the 18th day to the medically set standard of 28 weeks would fall into the category of killing as per the death’s definition based on heartbeats. On the other side an abortion from the 4oth day to the medically set standard of 28 weeks would fall into the category of killing as per both the definitions. In totality, abortion in all means is a killing and none of the medically relevant excuses can help it to be explained as a non brutal act. Another relevant argument in this context is that the promoters of abortion argue an embryo as one with no genetic identity as the genetic setup would be as similar that of the mother. However, medically it has been proved that a developing embryo has a district and unique genetic setup in comparison with the mother. Same would be result if compared with the DNAs of the father as well. It has been found that there are no distinguishable features between the DNA of a developing embryo and that of an adult. In simpler language, if a geneticist is given the DNAs of both an embryo and adult, even with the aid of the most modern technologies, he or she will not be able to distinguish which belongs to the embryo. Thus it can be found that a fetus even genetically contains life and is the future of human race. Pain is a factor which would explain the brutality of any deed. The promoters of abortion would use this point to justify abortion as it is generally believed that the fetus has no feel of pain. It would be ideal in this context to refer to the statement in the British Medical Journal: "Try sticking an infant with a pin and you know what happens. She opens her mouth to cry and also pulls away. Try sticking an 8-week-old human fetus in the palm of his hand. He opens his mouth and pulls his hand away. A more technical description would add that changes in heart rate and fetal movement also suggest that intrauterine manipulations are painful to the fetus." This clearly suggests in the simplest language that the fetus can very well feel pain. Thus the process of abortion will put the fetus to immense pain. It would be as equal as piercing a knife into the chest of some one. In the whole debate both in favor and against abortion, the most relevant philosophical question is that at what stage is humanity induced in the fetus or when does a fetus start being a human? My strong answer in the context is that the very moment a woman is conceived another human is created. All that has to follow in the period of pregnancy and even the process of birth are naturally inevitable consequences. It is prewritten by the rules of the nature. No power on the earth has the right to interrupt this natural process. What so ever would be the interruption is against the natural laws. After all it is that rule of the nature which let us live and keeps life going. It is not wise to mix-up humanity with personhood. Though the fetus is not fully developed as person as a human it deserves the right to do so. As having bestowed with the destiny to be born, the fetus goes through the process of achieving personhood through a series of process. Thus it is just matter of time to get converted into a state of personhood. Having not given the chance to go through these processes, it is not at all justified to make it a point in support of abortion. Added to this, if the religious contexts are taken into account, none of the religions principles would deny ones right to live. Mother Theresa has opined that “The right to life does not depend, and must not be declared to be contingent, on the pleasure of anyone else, not even a parent or a sovereign”(Gargaro, 2005).All preaching, no matter which ever religion would belong to, would never encourage any one to take a life. Life is considered by all religions as the gift of God. No one in the world is supposed to have the right to take a life. Denying the right to be born is cruel in any philosophical and religious context. People may find justifications for abortion by relating it with the materialistic things in life. Some may find a baby being born as a restriction in their freedom. Some may point out the easy reason of not being ready to have a child. Few others will have some health related issues as an excuse. What ever be the excuse, none of them are strong enough to justify the act of abortion, which in other terms is killing. When thousands of people are deprived of the blessing to have a child, its by all means unjustified to get a baby killed in the womb. In conclusion, it can be found that in any of the reviewed aspects, abortion cannot be justified. While taking into account the medically relevant facts and definitions in relation with abortion, it has been confirmed that abortion is an act of inducing death. Inducing death is in other terms killing or murder. Thus what ever the medical science and its principle argues, abortion is never different from murder. Philosophically speaking, abortion is the denial of ones right to be born. No one actually has that right and the forceful takeover of that right philosophically is the breach of the rules of nature. None of the religions and their principles supports abortion. In totality, abortion is a cruel act and in no means it must be supported. Legal restrictions must be strengthened with regard to abortion and the social setups should undertake the responsibility to educate people on abortion. They must be well aware that while doing abortion, what actually happens is that a link to a newer generation is being cutoff. They should be aware that they are literally sanctioning the authority to kill a human being while giving consent for abortion. Works Cited Anderson, Kerby. “Arguments Against Abortion”, 2003, LeadrshipU, 18 June 2009, Kapilasharmi, M C. “Socio-demographic problems of unsafe abortion”, Consortium on National Consensus for Medical Abortion in India, 2007, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, 18 June 2009, http://www.aiims.ac.in/aiims/events/Gynaewebsite/ma_finalsite/report/1_1_2.ht m MedlinePlus “Abortion”, Medline Plus, 2009, US National Library of Medicine, 18 June 2009, http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/abortion.html Gargaro Carolyn, “Quotes about abortion”, 2005, In Memory of Mother Theresa, 18 June 2009, http://www.gargaro.com/mother_teresa/quotes.html Read More