Abortion Essay, Research Paper

Abortion on demand should be legal for many reasons. In countries where

abortion is absolutely not tolerated it is a fact that women continue to

receive abortions, from unqualified back-street abortionists or the

village massage abortionist. Both of these individuals risk putting the

woman through painful and potentially fatal tortures just in an attempt

to abort a child. Each year 84 000 women die worldwide from failed

abortion attempts. Because of anti-abortion legislation women avoid

going to the hospital, often until it is too late, to avoid prosecution

from police. In the cases of rape and incest the very idea of being

forced to have the child of the woman’s abuser is repulsive. There are

also cases when a woman’s health is put in jeopardy by having a child at

all, forcing such a woman to bring a child to term, would be no less

than attempted murder. If a woman is forced to give birth to a child she

does not want, if left in that woman’s custody, the child could

potentially face hatred and resentment from the mother for the rest of

it’s life. In countries all over the world, children are found dead and

abandoned in places as degrading as garbage dumps. The only effective

method of preventing unwanted births is abstinence, and this is just not

a realistic objective. There is no 100% effective form of birth control,

and even men and women using birth control have unwanted pregnancies.

Some women for financial, occupational, social, and maturity reasons,

see pregnancy as cessation of their lives. There are no accurate

statistics on how many women attempt or succeed in committing suicide

each year rather than live with their pregnancies. Women will continue

to have abortions with or without government legislation, but with

legislation, the conditions under which they have their abortions can be

sanctioned and observed.

The role of family in abortion is that preservation of family has a

profound impact on some women’s decision whether or not to have an

abortion. Some women have learned to protect and preserve each and every

member of her family, including an unborn child. For these women

abortion is not even a consideration, but many do live their lives

harboring resent towards their husbands and the child for forcing her to

have a child she did not necessarily want. Other women see abortion as a

necessity to protect the family they already have. For financial reasons

especially some women believe that abortion at this time in life is not

an option, and to protect the stability of their families have

abortions. The role that school has on the issue of abortion is that

presently schools teach students how to best protect themselves against

pregnancy. Many schools provide condoms to students, and attempt to

instill a sense of responsibility in both female and male students. The

role that the church plays on the issue of abortion is especially

important to society. For hundreds of years, whatever the church’s

position on abortion, the entire world adopted. For centuries the church

has accepted abortion for a few hundred years and then condemned

abortion for a few hundred years, but in either case society has

embraced the church’s thinking. For many both religious and

non-religious women, the church’s opinion of abortion is highly revered

and obeyed. The Catholic Church denounces both birth control and

abortion so women are getting pregnant and are being forced to raise

enormous families, straining the family, especially financially. The

government’s role in the issue of abortion, is the legislator of all

laws pertaining to abortion. The Canadian government, which is more

lenient towards the issue of abortion than other countries, provides

abortion to women, on the grounds of either mental or physical damage

that would be caused by the birth of a child. The government also bans

most abortions after the first trimester because after this date, there

is significantly more risk to the health of the woman. The medical

profession provides legal abortions to women, and it is medical

professionals who make up the panel of doctors who decide if a woman may

have an abortion. These members examine what level of trauma the woman

would suffer by having a child, and decide whether or not to grant an

abortion to a woman.