Have abortions become an inevitable part of the modern world.. Are they an outcome of casual sex.. Is an abortion unethical.. Should it be legal.. Is respecting the subjective choice of a woman the need of the hour.. All these and many more pros and cons of abortion are apposed in this article below.
In several countries across the world such as Australia, Canada, Germany, United States and as many as 30 others, there are laws that make abortion legal, at any point of time until birth. The rest of the countries either have partial restrictions on abortion like the first or second trimesters of pregnancy or a complete ban, unless it’s fatal for the mother to continue pregnancy.
Abortion can be defined as pregnancy termination by choice or one that happens accidentally in case of a miscarriage. Hereby we would be weighing the pros and cons of abortion (voluntary); and analyzing whether the availability of abortion is an important right for a woman to have. From the statistical point of view, abortions caused by rape, incest and possible health concerns to mother/baby constitute just 7% of the total numbers. Social and personal issues are some other causes that add up to rest of abortions.
Also, the modern day medicine has introduced the morning-after pill leading to an increase in the number and frequency of abortions in women. Although the abortion pill has substantially reduced the risks of undergoing a surgical abortion and its complications thereof, it has surfaced other health concerns, resulting in the abuse of the OTC pill and hence hormonal imbalance amongst younger women.
- Half the percentage of women getting an abortion are below the age of 25.
- Around 60% abortions are performed on ‘never married’ women.
- The failure rate for most medical abortions is around 3%, following which a surgical abortion becomes absolutely necessary.
- A woman’s decision to go for an abortion is not impulsive in majority of the cases, although the sexual behavior that led to the pregnancy may be deemed irresponsible.
- Choosing between the alternatives – to abort, keep the baby or give it up for adoption can be really tough and either of the decisions can lead to depression or post-abortion trauma.
- The most important argument against abortion would be – can we choose to kill unwanted pregnancies? Should a person be so irresponsible to land up in a situation where they have to be merciless to the unborn?
- Also, most of the unplanned pregnancies if extended to childbirth may perhaps prove to be less traumatic later.
- A growing embryo is considered human with the heartbeats initiating as early as 21st day of conception. So what if we cannot see the human form, it does have the potential to gain one.
- Choosing adoption as an alternative to abortion would give the baby its right to life.
- Should people resort to abortion as a last-minute contraception tool while preaching their kids about the consequences of casual sex?
- Infection, sepsis, recurrent miscarriages and rarely death could be the complications of abortions.
- An abortion can cause serious psychological impairment to the woman in the form of depression and guilt.
- Although women have a hard time choosing abortion as an option for unwanted pregnancies, they have been making the choice for a long time. They have been knowing the implications of their choices and hold the right to do so.
- Ultimately, the woman is the one who would be going through the actual ‘labor’ of continuing pregnancy, delivering a baby, bringing it up, parenting it well, in addition to other duties that life has to offer. To follow through all this with little or no help from her partner and family would be extremely difficult if not impossible.
- There is nothing called pro-choice and pro-life. Both ideologies meet at one common point i.e. Pro-Life – ‘life of the baby’ OR ‘life of the mother’. Life of the baby ultimately depends on mother’s health and it’s best to allow the mother to choose for her, ‘when’ she wants a baby.
- While we argue about the mental well-being of a woman, how do others get to decide what would be more traumatic to the woman – abortion or; childbirth and the unending list of duties waiting to be accomplished.
- An attempt to restrict the abortions would rise not only the percentage of illegal and unsafe abortions but also the expenses of the procedure. A new law would be needed to tackle the illegal abortions and complicate things further.
Legalize or not, abortions will always be a part of society. The deciding factor whether to abort or not would be different for different people. For one individual, abortion can be traumatic, while for others – a forced childbirth could be equally traumatic. It’s impossible to decide a particular set of rules for one and all. It all depends on diverse aspects like the approach of that woman in tackling such an unwarranted situation, her psychological strength and other supportive circumstances that will not only help her decide but also be convinced about her decision.
