Abortion in America States - Research Paper Example

Introduction Globally, abortion is termed as an emotive and sensitive issue. It refers to the termination of an unwantedpregnancy. According to many experts, ignorance or inaccessibility to contraceptives are the major causes of many abortions. However, abortions are usually in high demand in the United States and according to Webmd.com, more than a million women in America have abortions every year. Of these abortions, some women might have had one abortion, while others may have had occasionally more abortions. There are various reasons why women in America have abortion. These reasons range from a variety of factors including economic status, age, social and marital status. This paper holds the view that abortion should be legalized and women should be allowed to have abortions as long as they choose to, rather than being forced to keep unplanned pregnancies. Therefore, the decision to continue or to end a pregnancy should be personal (Webmd.com, 1). According to religious views, abortion is a bad thing, which is punishable before God and hence should not be allowed. It is morally bad and contrary to the will of God to take a life – killing of the fetus. According to the Biblical context, life begins at conception, and therefore the conceived fetus becomes a living thing with the right to life like any other human being. Moreover, over the years, abortion has been considered an immoral act and against many cultural beliefs and values. Therefore, when one is suspected to have done abortion, she is at a high risk of facing rejection in the community. Abortion is also considered immoral because it affects the health of the woman leading to serious mental problems. Women who have previously had abortion have been associated with post abortion syndrome where she becomes traumatized and stressed while others experience serious psychological disturbance (Lee, 19-20). Lee further points out that, feelings of shame, anger and guilt against the doctor and people who suggested abortion are said to accompany women after abortion. Other problems like grief, weeping, depression, self-pity, withdraw from others, sleeplessness, nightmares, and eating problems have been associated with women after abortion. Other women end up into drug abuse as a relief for stress. Drug abuse may however lead to other problems like loss of job, divorce or separation and accidents. All these problems interfere with the health and welfare of the woman (Lee, 20-21). Abortion leads to physical complications. Uterine perforations, pain, bleeding, serious infection, hemorrhage, incomplete abortions and cervical lacerations and injury are some of the reported physical complications with the risk of the complications being dependent on the abortion procedure undertaken. Breast cancer, premature delivery, sterility and placenta previa complications in the future pregnancies are the long-term physical consequences of abortion leading to prenatal death, low birth weight and maternal morbidity. In addition, many cases of deaths resulting from abortion have been reported in America. This was a study done between 1973, when abortion was made legal nationwide to 2004 (Gaul, 1). Despite the above arguments against abortion, I strongly believe that it is helpful and of great value, and that the law should legalize it. This is because it helps to save a woman’s life in case of complicated pregnancies, for instance, when a woman becomes pregnant with more than one fetus, which mostly happens due to the use of fertility drugs or fertility procedure like IVF. Because of this, a woman may end up becoming pregnant with even as many fetuses as six or more. This increases the risk of both the woman’s life as well as that of the fetuses as it can lead to premature birth or expose the mother to many other health-associated problems. When such a condition occurs, both the woman and the physicians are presented into a dilemma because they want to preserve the life of the woman and at the same time, want to take good care of the fetuses. The option and the decision reached at in such a condition is abortion. This involves aborting some of the fetuses in order to increase the health and chances of survival to the mother and the other fetuses (Devettere, 275). Devettere continues to argue that termination of pregnancies may also occur when a fetus is discovered to be seriously defective. This can be a good reason especially when discovered early in a pregnancy because such defective fetuses are probably expected to die later in the pregnancy or briefly after birth. It is also expected if by any chance the fetus will be born; the newborn will suffer in the short life after birth. Therefore, the termination of such pregnancies should be allowed in their early stages instead of having to expose the fetus to the problems waiting. Furthermore, it is far much better to terminate the pregnancy at such an early stage than killing a mature fetus or newborn defective infant. Such defects like anencephaly are so serious that the chances of an infant being born alive are minimal (Devettere, 275-276 & Webmd.com, 1). Rape or incest is also one of the major reasons as to why most women choose abortion. This is because one was unprepared for such a pregnancy and may not be willing to bring up a child of such an immoral father. Economic status and age among other factors may also contribute to such an abortion. The failure of contraceptives is another reason that has greatly contributed to more than half of all the abortions in America. Therefore, women should not be forced to keep such unintended pregnancies. Health problem and complications is also a reason leading to abortion in women. This is because the pregnancy may become a burden and a risk to their future health and hence in such a case, it is better to terminate the pregnancy than to risk your life (Webmd.com, 1). Interference with one's career is another reason why many women prefer abortion. This happens to most people who become pregnant unexpectedly. To many, having a child becomes an obstacle towards their work and career as well as in achieving their goals. Abortion is a good choice at such a time and women should be allowed to have it as far as it is a personal choice for them to secure their careers. Readiness in age is another reason that makes many young women opt for abortions. This especially happens to the teen agers and the young unmarried women still pursuing academics or careers in life and feel that children should come later in life. Under such a circumstance, the woman should not be forced to keep the pregnancy that she may be anticipating will interfere with her life or might be feeling to be too young to have a child (Finer, et al., 1). Economic status of a woman also determines whether she should have a child or another child. Most poor, unemployed or unmarried women consider having abortion as compared to their respective counterparts. This is most evident in the young teenagers and women in their 20's. Abortion becomes an option for such people as they claim not to have adequate finances to cater for the needs of a child whose conception was unexpected (Finer, et al., 1). Absence of financial support from the father of the current pregnancy or to the other children for a married woman, lack of health insurance and anticipations of losing or getting a job are some of the financial difficulties experienced. Therefore, stresses due to limited resources make many pregnant women opt for abortion (Webmd.com, 1). Finer and his colleagues further argue that divorce, relationship problems and single motherhood is another cause that leads women to abortion. Divorced women may find it hard to have a child or another child on their own, which may be burdensome and therefore opt for an abortion. The same case happens to women in relationships that seem not to be working. In the case of single motherhood, the woman may feel not ready of having another child either due to financial problems or due to burden caused by other children depending on her alone. They can therefore choose to abort in such a circumstance and nobody should question their choice. Women in the United States however have been finding it hard to access legal abortion. This is despite the fact that the Supreme Court confirmed women's right to choose abortion in the year 1973. Report from the most recent survey identified that more than a half of the women's population in the United States do not access abortion providers. This forces them to travel for very long distances in order to get to the abortion provider. Other barriers to abortion in America include limited numbers of hospitals that offer abortion services, clinics providing abortion are always threatened to harassment and violence, inadequate trained abortion providers, Medicaid restrictions and complicated state laws that make it hard for women to access abortion (Fried, 4-20 and Mueller & Dudley, 2-3 ). Mueller & Dudley point out that many hospitals in the United States do not provide abortion services currently. This is so different as compared to the early years when most hospitals used to provide abortion care services after the laws that used to criminate abortion were struck down. Several studies have confirmed the decline of the number of hospitals providing abortion services in the United States. For instance, a report from The American Hospital Association showed that, in 2001, there were about 5,801 hospitals offering abortion services in the United States. However, another survey conducted by Guttmacher Institute between 2001 and 2002 reported that only 603 such hospitals were available by 2001. This has interfered with abortion access by many women in the United States (Mueller & Dudley, 5-6). Many private doctors and clinics have taken up the responsibility of providing abortion services. This, on the other hand, has greatly disadvantaged the women who live in the rural areas where such clinics are not available. In addition, more women who are financially challenged with low incomes are also left out by these services. This is because majority of such women depend on hospital emergency services for their medication. Unfortunately, these services are only offered in hospitals and not in these clinics. This may remain a problem in the United States even in future because the young physicians are not being exposed to trainings on safe abortion in the hospitals and hence lack the opportunity to learn and gain experience. On the other hand, the cost of abortion is quite expensive and hence not affordable to many women in the United States (Fried, 9-14). Another barrier to abortion in America is the passage of restrictive laws. Many legislators have passed restrictive laws against the legalization of abortion, which has in turn interfered with the accessibility of abortion by many women. For example, they have come up with biased counseling laws that are meant to frighten the women from having abortion. They do this using scripts bearing detailed and complicated information of promoting child bearing, which are contrary to the counseling normally offered by doctors to their abortion patients. The so-called restrictive laws also require a person to have parental consent – involving parents before having an abortion. This can violate the privacy of women especially the young women who may end up having illegal abortions instead of revealing secrets to their parents (Mueller & Dudley, 10). Conclusion Evidently, the reasons why women should have abortion outweigh the problems associated with having abortion. Therefore, abortion should be legalized and women are entitled to the freedom of choice in their lives, particularly concerning their pregnancies because if any problem arises, they are usually prepared to bear the consequences. Ending or continuing a pregnancy should therefore be a personal decision. Although some reasons like the fear of taking responsibilities of a mother have been associated with women who go for abortion, it is far much better to terminate an unwanted or unexpected pregnancy than to give birth to a child one never planned for in the first place. Although people believe that abortion is against God's will and cultural beliefs and it is associated with trauma and other health problems; it is important to note that it helps in giving a woman the peace to continue with her life and future endeavors. In case of early-unwanted pregnancy, abortion facilitates the pursuit of one’s career and academics. Abortion also helps in reducing single mothers’ burden of having more children. As previously discussed, through abortion, the health of a woman is rescued from danger especially in cases of complicated pregnancies and poor health status of the woman. The government of America should therefore be committed towards providing and ensuring quality health care for abortion to the women. This is through solving the problems that limit many women from accessing abortion services or problems that lead to delayed abortions. Provision of adequate training to young physicians should be a key priority to the government. The restrictive laws limiting women from abortion should be abolished and women be given their freedom of choice. The government should also ensure that every woman, including the poorest, is able to access safe abortion services. This will be facilitated by establishing hospitals offering abortion services in the rural areas as well as cutting down the costs involved. In addition, creation of awareness on the safe methods and procedures of abortion should be provided to the public. Works Cited Devettere, Raymond J. Practical Decision Making in Health Care Ethics: Cases and Concepts. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press. 2009. Print. Finer, Lawrence B., et al. Reasons U.S. Women Have Abortions: Quantitative and Qualitative Perspectives. 2005. Web. Fried, Marlen.G. The Economics of Abortion Access in the US. 2005. Web Gaul, Moira. How Abortion Harms Women's Health. 2012. Web. Lee, Ellie. Abortion, Motherhood, and Mental Health: Medicalizing Reproduction in the United States and Great Britain. New York: Aldine. 2004. Print. Mueller, Stephanie & Dudley, Susan. Access to Abortion. 2003. Web. Webmd.com. Women’s Health. 2005. Web. Read More