Abortion Risks Essay, Research Paper

Abortion is the termination of pregnancy before birth, resulting in, or

accompanied by, the death of the fetus. Some abortions occur naturally because a

fetus does not develop normally. Or because the mother has an injury or disorder

that prevents her from carrying the pregnancy to a full term. This type of

abortion is commonly known as a miscarriage. Other abortions are induced.

Induced abortions are intentionally brought on, either because a pregnancy is

unwanted or presents a risk to a woman?s health. Induced abortion has become

one of the most ethical and philosophical issues of the late 20th century.

Modern medical techniques have made induced abortions simpler and less

dangerous. But in the United States, the debate over abortion has led to legal

battles in the courts, in the Congress of the United States, and state

legislatures. It has proven to be spilled over into confrontations, which are

sometimes violent, at clinics where abortions are performed. There are many

different methods in having an abortion. Induced abortions are performed using

one of several methods. The safest and most useful and appropriate method is

determined by the age of the fetus, or the length of pregnancy, which is

calculated from the beginning of the pregnant woman?s last menstrual period.

Most pregnancies last an average of 39 to 40 weeks, about 9 months. This period

of time is broken up into three parts known as trimesters. The first trimester

is the first 13 weeks, the second trimester is from the 14 to 24 week and the

third trimester lasts from the 25th week to birth. Abortions in the first

trimester of pregnancy are easier and safer to perform, that is because the

fetus is smaller. Abortions in the second and third trimesters are more

complicated procedures, which present greater risks to a woman?s health. In

the United States, a pregnant woman?s risk of death from a first-term abortion

is less than 1 in 100,000. The risk increases by about 30 percent with each week

of pregnancy after 12 weeks. Although it is so dangerous many women continue to

have abortions. There are even some drug medications used to terminate a

woman?s pregnancy. In a method commonly referred to as the morning-after pill,

a woman is given large doses of estrogen which is a female hormone within 72

hours of unprotected sexual intercourse and again 12 hours later. This high dose

stops the fetus from any further development at the earliest stages after

conception. Or the point when a man?s sperm fertilizes a woman?s egg.

Typical side effects of the morning-after pill may include nausea, headache,

dizziness, breast tenderness, and sometimes fluid retention. During the first

seven weeks of pregnancy a combination of two drugs can be given in pill form to

make a fetus. A pregnant woman first takes a drug which blocks progesterone,

which is a hormone needed to maintain pregnancy. About 48 hours later she takes

another drug which is a hormone like chemical produced by the body that causes

contractions of the uterus, the organ in which the fetus develops. These

contractions expel the fetus. Misoprostol, which is another kind of drug can

also induce abortion when it is mixed with a different drug that interferes with

cell division. A doctor first injects a pregnant woman with one kind of drug and

about a week later the woman takes another drug to induce contractions and to

expel to fetus. When you combine these two kinds of drugs it usually ends

pregnancy effectively according to the 95 percent of the woman who have taken

them. Although, some woman experience cramps, bleeding and nausea. Some of the

cases are more serious, such as pneumonia, edema, arrhythmia and they effect the

heart and lungs which may cause death. After the first 16 weeks of pregnancy ,

abortion becomes more difficult. One method that can be used during this period

is called dilation and evacuation. Which requires greater dilation of the cervix

than other methods. It also requires the use of suction of a large curette and a

grasping tool called a forceps to remove the fetus. Dilation and evacuation are

complicated procedures because of the size of the fetus and the thinner wall,

which usually stretch to accommodate a growing fetus. Bleeding in the uterus

often occurs. Dilation and evacuation must be performed under general anesthesia

in a clinic or hospital. It is typically used in the first weeks of the second

trimester but can be performed up to the 24th week of pregnancy. Intact dilation

and extraction, also referred to as a partial birth abortion, consists of

partially removing the fetus from the uterus through the vaginal canal, feet

first, and using suction to remove the brain and spinal fluid from the skull.

The skull is then collapsed to allow complete removal of the fetus from the

uterus. Abortion has become one of the most widely debated ethical issues. On

one side there are individuals who are for woman?s reproductive rights,

including the right to chose to have an abortion. On the other side there are

the pro- life advocates, who oppose abortion except in extreme cases, as when

the mother?s life would be threatened by carrying a pregnancy to term. At one

end of this ethical spectrum are pro- choice defenders who believe the fetus is

only a potential human being until it is viable. Until this time the fetus has

no legal rights. The rights belong to the woman carrying the fetus, who can

decide whether or not to bring the pregnancy to a full term. At the other end of

the spectrum are pro-life supporters who believe the fetus is a human being from

the time of conception. The fetus has the legal right to life from the moment

the egg and sperm unite. Between these positions lies a continuum of ethical and

political positions. A variety of ethical arguments have been made on both sides

of the abortion issue, but no consensus or compromise has ever been reached

because, in the public policy debate, the most vocal pro-choice and pro-life

champions have radically different views about the status of a fetus.

Embryology, which is the study of fetal development, offers little insight about

the fetus?s status at the moment of conception, further confounding the issue

for both sides. In addition, the point when a fetus becomes viable is constantly

changing with every passing year medical advances make it possible to keep a

premature baby alive at an earlier stage. The current definition of viability is

generally accepted at about 24 weeks gestation; a small percentage of babies

born at about 22 weeks gestation have been kept alive with intensive medical

care. In the abortion debate, the combination of medical uncertainties and

emotional political confrontations has led to considerable hostility . However,

for many people, the lines between pro-choice and pro-life are blurred. The

issue is also far less polarized. Many women, who consider themselves pro-life

supporters, are concerned about the danger of allowing the government to decide

what medical options are available to them and the possible threats to

reproductive rights. Similarly, many women, who contemplate their view as the

pro-choice view, are deeply saddened by the act of abortion and seek to minimize

its use through more education about abortions, prevention?s of pregnancy and

the use of birth control. Many people on all sides of the controversy feel the

political debate has led to a stalemate because it ignores the nuances of the

issue. In response, participants in the abortion debate find common ground in

the admission that the issue is surrounded by complicated, difficult questions

that require more than simplified pro-life or pro-choice supporters. Abortion

has been practiced around the world since ancient times as a crude method of

birth control. Although many religions forbade or restricted the practice,

abortion was not considered illegal in most countries until the 19th century.

There were laws during this time, however, that banned abortion after quickening

which is the time that fetal movement can first be felt. In 1803 England banned

all abortions, and this policy soon spread to Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Throughout the middle and late 1800s, many states in the United States enacted

similar laws banning abortion. In the 20th century, however, many nations began

to be lenient about their laws against abortion. The former Union of Soviet

Socialist Republics (USSR) legalized abortion in 1920, followed by Japan in

1948, and several Eastern European countries in the 1950s. In the 1960s and

1970s, much of Europe and Asia, along with Canada and the United States,

legalized abortion. An estimate of about 50 million people have abortions a

year. Of this number a lot of the abortions that are performed are done

illegally which lead to immediate deaths. Illegal abortions are more likely to

be performed by untrained people, in unsanitary conditions, or with unsafe

surgical procedures or drugs. In many European countries it is more likely for

woman to have illegal abortions. In countries where abortion is legal less than

one percent of pregnancy related deaths are caused by abortion. In the United

States. the legalization of abortion became an issue in 1966, when Mississippi

passed a law permitting abortion in cases of rape. In the following four years,

other states started to legalize abortion to include cases in which a pregnancy

threatens a woman?s health, the fetus has serious abnormalities, or the

pregnancy is the result of sexual relations between close relatives. The Supreme

court decided in the early 1973 two cases known as Roe v. Wade and Doe v.

Bolton, that abortion was legal for any apparent reason before the 24th week of

pregnancy. The reason for this is because the fetus has not yet become viable.

The ruling of the Supreme Court allowed individual states to change the law by

restricting abortion after viability. Except in certain cases when the pregnancy

presents a threat to the woman?s health, abortion is allowed no matter how

many weeks. In 1976 the Supreme Court recognized the right of pregnant girls

under the age of 18, know as a minor, to terminate her pregnancy. The court

ruled three years later that states may require consent of one of the parents of

the minor, who wants a abortion. However, consent is not needed if a

confidential alternative form of review, such as a judicial hearing. A judicial

hearing is made for young women, who had chosen not to involve their parents in

their decision of abortion. The Supreme Court of The United States also ruled

that a judicial court may approve a minor?s decision of abortion, in place of

her parents, only if the judge finds that the young girl is capable to make the

decision on her own. If the judge finds the minor not mature enough to make the

decision of abortion on her own, the court can rule whether the termination of

pregnancy is in the minor?s best interest. Since these decisions many states

have enforced parental consent, or notification laws. Although some laws have

been argued in courts for years. For Example in 1990, Hodgson v. Minnesota, the

Supreme Court upheld a law requiring that prior notice of the minor?s parents

must be provided before and abortion is performed. In a similar case that

happened in Ohio, the Supreme Court upheld a requirement for notice or consent

of only one parent. In 1980 the Supreme Court upheld another ruling restricting

the availability of federal Medicaid funding for abortions that were medically

necessary. After that ruling, abortion payments for the poor women were limited

to cases in which the pregnancy threatened the woman?s life. Also in 1977, the

Supreme Court allowed the city of St. Louis, Missouri to exclude elective

abortions from procedures performed in a public hospital. In 1983, the court

found it unconstitutional to require that a woman considering an abortion should

be given information developed by the state, talking about risks and

consequences and that they should wait 24 hours after receiving the information

about abortion. Also in 1986, the court struck down a law in Pennsylvania

requiring that state- developed materials about abortion being offered to woman

that are undergoing the procedure of abortion. In 1989 there was a Supreme Court

decision in Webster v. Reproductive Health services, and since then the court

has permitted several state imposed restrictions to stand. The Webster case

upheld a Missouri law that prohibits the use of public facilities or public

employees for abortion and requires a physician to determine the viability of a

fetus older than 20 weeks before performing an abortion. In 1991, in the case of

Rust v. Sullivan, the court upheld a federal policy that prevented health care

providers who received federal funding from engaging in any activities that

encouraged or promoted abortion as a method of family planning. This policy was

later annulled by President Bill Clinton in 1993. One year earlier in 1992 the

court decided Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, which

was a case in which the court reaffirmed the central ruling of Roe v. Wade, that

no undue burden on access to abortion should exist for a woman over 18 years of

age prior to fetal viability. That case also permitted states more freedom in

regulating abortion. The court overturned rulings which made it possible for

states to once again require that a woman be given information about abortion

risks and consequences and wait 24 hours before actually performing the

procedure. The last bill enacted by the Congress was passed in 1996, banning the

practice of partial birth abortions. President Clinton rejected the law because

it failed to permit use of the procedure when a fetus displays abnormalities, or

when carrying a pregnancy to term presents a serious threat to the woman?s

life or health. Since then many states have passed the law banning use of the

procedure. Since the Supreme Court ruling in 1973, pro-life supporters have

worked continuously to reverse the decision. They had state and federal

officials to place restrictions on women seeking abortions or on individuals

providing abortions. In 1994, the Freedom Of Access to Clinic Entrances Act was

enacted, which made it a federal crime to use force, threat of force, or

physical obstruction to injure, intimidate, or interfere with reproductive

health care providers and their patients. During that same year, in a case known

as Madsen v. Women?s health Center, the Supreme Court upheld the basic right

to protest in peaceful, organized demonstrations outside abortion clinics. More

than two decades since the Supreme Court first upheld a woman?s right to

abortion, the debate over the morality and the legality of induced abortion

continues in the U.S. Although pro-life and pro-choice supporters still continue

to argue the issue. A growing number of individuals and organizations are kind

of leaving the debate in search of common ground. Many people hope that

broadening the arguments to include a wider spectrum of perspectives will

improve the chances of an end to the issue. The argument for abortion is that

women who accidentally get pregnant have the option to get an abortion. Instead

of just having the baby and leaving it stranded abortion will not leave you in

that situation. In some cases the pregnancy is unwanted and therefore that is

why I think abortion should be legal. I feel that the woman should be able to

decide what happens to their body. Some woman must have the abortion other wise

it is a threat and risk to their lives and to their health. Some parents might

not be understanding and when they find out that their child is about to perform

and abortion, the parents won?t let the child do it. Therefore the child is

forced to have an illegal abortion which is extremely dangerous. On the other

hand, the argument against having abortion is that it can be very risky. Some

abortions are so severe that they can kill you. Most of the abortions don?t

necessarily have to protect the mothers health since she wants to kill the baby.

If the mother doesn?t want to baby so badly than she should put it up for

adoption. Majority of the abortions performed in the United States are done in

an unskilled way, which leads to either woman dying or having horrendous side

effects such as the inability to have children. The woman who is having the

abortion should be responsible to prevent a pregnancy from the beginning of the

sexual relationship. In conclusion I feel that abortion should be legalized

through out the world. I think an amendment should be passed for all those

unwanted mothers who either can?t afford to have a baby or who just don?t

want it. Obviously my position on this case is to allow the choice of an

abortion in any case. I hope I?ve proved my arguments for having an abortion.

In the future, I aspire that abortion will be legal in all states and not just

selected states through out the country.

Abortion; James, Simon Rita – 1991, New York The Clash of Absolutes; Tribe,

Lawrence H.- 1989. Chicago Abortion and Dialogue- Pro Choice, Pro life and

American law: Colker, Ruth- 1992, Florida Abortion- Facts on file handbooks to

Constitutional issues: Tushnet, Mark V.-1985, New York Abortion: Flanders, Carl

N.- 1984, Illinois Abortion-The Supreme Court decisions: Shapiro, Ian- 1990, New

York -New York Times.com -Abortion.com