The Characteristics Of Abortion

Jones, R. K., & Kooistra, K. (2011). Abortion Incidence and Access to Services In the United States, 2008. Perspectives On Sexual & Reproductive Health, 43(1), 41-50. doi:10.1363/4304111

Abortion has been one of the biggest controversies of all time. Many people believe that women should get to decide what she would do with her body. The definition of abortion is; “The termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to being capable of normal growth”. Abortion is one of the most controversial topics today. Although there are two sides of the debate pro-choice and pro life, arguments are mainly centered around the Roe v. Wade decision, women’s rights and state restrictive laws.

The topic of abortion is quite a controversial one, many people are both for and against the motion: “Should abortion be legal in the U.S.?”. The main arguments for this topic are “You are taking a child’s life when aborting.” but others may say “Women deserve the right to their own health decisions.” Many people are also in the grey spot with this topic, many believe under certain circumstances such as medical complications, that abortion should be legal.

Abortion, for the vast majority of people is not a subject that is easy to talk about. According to the World Health Organization, out of the 211 million pregnancies, 46 million end up in abortion and 18 million of those abortions are done in what WHO considers unsafe conditions (World Health Report, 2007). Unsafe conditions are defined by WHO as, “ abortions performed by people lacking the necessary skills or in an environment lacking the minimal medical standards, or both” (World Health Report, 2007). The maternal death rate for women who have unsafe abortions is 350 out of 100,000, and there are other complications that are not fatal but can lead to disease or disability (World Health Report, 2007).

In this study they estimated mortality rates from 1998 to 2005. Their data was gathered from reports posted out by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System. They looked at pregnancy-related mortality, common maternal comorbidities, and the characteristics of women. The data they found was over a ratio of 100,000 births and 100,00 abortions. In the discussion part of their study and one of their recognized strengths they explain that expressing information like mortality risks into ratio format is easier to understand. Pregnant women considering their options should be entitled to have accurate information about their risk factors (Raymond & Grimes, 2012). They found that 10.4 deaths occur per 100,000 live births and 0.6 deaths occurred per 100,000 abortions. All together their results conclude that according to national data sets, legal abortion in the United States remains much safe than

Women who are denied abortion are more likely to become unemployed, be on public welfare, and fall below the poverty line. A study done by the University of California at San Francisco found the women turned away from abortion clinics were three times more likely to be below the poverty than women who had received an abortion. According to the ASPE, the poverty line in the United States for a family of two, a mother and child, was $15, 930 in 2015. CNN calculated that it cost between $12,500 and $14,000 to raise a child, which consumes 85 percent of the poverty stricken family of two’s income. With legal abortions, single mothers do not have to raise children that will send them into poverty, thus lowering the national level of poverty. Also, implementing laws banning abortion and contraceptive services costs the government millions of dollars. The Guttmacher Institute states that by allowing women women with the contraceptive services they want, for every $1 invested in family planning services, $7.09 in Medicaid costs is saved. The effects of cutting off reproductive choices was displayed in Texas in 2011. State legislators stripped the $73 million funding for family planning services. With low-income families denied reproductive services, an estimated 24,000 additional babies were to be born costing Texans as much as $273 million due to medical expenses under Medicaid. After Texas lawmakers saw the numbers, both

There have been an increasing number of abortion cases throughout the United States. Between 2000 and 2008 the abortion rate has increased 18 percent among poor women. Nearly 70 percent of abortions are for women who are making 11,000 a year or less, and are hovering right over the poverty line. Lower-income single women tend to get pregnant more than middle-class single women. The reason is that lower-income single women have less self-esteem about their self. The reason for some women to have abortion is the responsibilities of parenthood and family life. Non –Hispanic white women account for 36 percent of abortions, non –Hispanic black women for 30 percent Hispanic women for 25 percent and women of other races for 9 percent. ( http://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/data_stats/)

Abortion is defined as terminating a pregnancy before the fetus has been born. Abortion has been and still is very controversial and has had an increasing amount of cases all over the world. In 2000 there were over one million abortions in the United States (Harper, et al, 501). Abortion is one of the most common procedures women undergo. According to the current abortion rates about thirty percent of women will have an abortion by the age of forty-five (Jones and Kavanaugh, 2011). Most abortions are attributed to unplanned pregnancies. In 2001 half of the 6.4 million pregnancies were not planned and half of this number resulted in having an abortion (Jones and Kavanaugh, 2011). Abortion is one of the biggest aspects that healthcare faces. Although the view of abortion is very controversial there are still many aspects that people do not know about the issue.

In a 2004 survey women were asked what reasons they had for obtaining an abortion. The number one reason for having an abortion was: “having a baby would dramatically change my life” stated by 74% of the women surveyed. 73% said “I can’t afford a baby now”. Problems within their relationships and an unwillingness to be a single mother were mentioned as more reasons women had abortions. This reason was cited by 48% of the women. Nearly 40% said that they were finished having children. Almost one-third said they were not ready to have a child. A potential health problem for the child was cited as a reason for 13%, and potential health problems for themselves had influenced 12% of women’s

Abortion is a highly complex issue within our society today. The scope of considerations concerning abortion encompasses physical health (including death), emotional wellbeing, finances, philosophy, ethics, and religious perspective. Not to mention the enormous political arena for debate surrounding the issue. Even though abortion is federally legal in the United States, it is a concern, which laces many elections and a substantial amount of legislation in every state. In fact, every state regulates abortion differently from the next. The reasons for choosing to terminate or bring a pregnancy to term are vast and multifaceted. Pro-life advocates support the abolition of abortion, while proponents of the pro-choice movement support a woman’s right to choose. Because there are as many viewpoints as there are individuals, widespread support exists on both sides of the issue.

Abortion has been a controversy topic. Some people support legal abortion but some people against.

Every day women throughout the United States, and the world as a whole, discover that they are pregnant. Nearly half of these women’s pregnancies are unintended. When they find out that they are pregnant they have three options: continue through the pregnancy and keep the baby, continue with the pregnancy and then put him or her up for adoption or abort the pregnancy. Unfortunately, many choose to abort the baby due to many different factors such as financial issues, one-night stands, young age or even because they simply do not want a baby or are not ready to have one. Approximately 40 percent of all unplanned pregnancies end in abortion. This means that every four in ten women who find out they are pregnant unintentionally decide to not continue with the pregnancy. This equates to four out of every ten unplanned child being killed and not having a chance at a precious life(Abortions). Although many abortions occur each day, not everyone believes that abortion is really a problem. Truthfully, it is just like murder. Just as the country needs to limit the crime rate, the rate at which abortions take place need to be reduced as well. Greater access to contraceptives such as birth control for all women with a larger emphasis on teenage girls will amount in a decrease in unplanned pregnancies, leading to less abortions.

Two opposing sides exchange views about what is right or wrong with the other’s viewpoint. Interestingly, I have come to believe, there is no real answer to an ethical dilemma. It is simply a matter of what one believes in. We instead should participate in moral rationale, critically scrutinize other beliefs which in the end helps us establish rejection or acceptance of the dilemma. Still, abortion is one of the most controversial topics in society. Tens of thousands of abortions take place yearly. Curiously public opinion is still unchanged as to whether or not abortion is ethical or

Abortion is one of those heavily debated topics in the United States. Millions of women have gone through abortion and the emotional pain and loss for each woman is deep but different. It’s a very sensitive topic in a sense that it discusses a matter of life, morality and legality. Moreover, people who discuss this issue, come from different backgrounds, cultures and locations. Usually when we think of abortion, we think of the two possible sides, pro-life or pro-choice. In order to be able to make an argument, one must fully understand both of sides of the debate. However, some topics such as abortion are difficult to take a side because of the nature of the problem. People can have different points

There are many factors that go into a person’s selection on finding a suitable life partner such as, what the opposite sex offers in terms of personal traits. Everyone has their own idea of who they would like to marry, and they often establish certain images in their head of who would make a worthy mate. Some characteristics of a suitable mate may be, physical looks, financial stability, love, or sexual chemistry. To find a suitable partner, people go through a series of dating, such as online dating, speed dating, or dating someone with mutual friends, before finding “the one”. Dating has changed significantly compared to before industrialization. Industrialization brought changes to dating by the invention of the automobile, which made traveling easier. Prior to industrialization, parents were involved in mate selection, and interaction between opposite sex was limited (Seccombe 2012, p.188). In most of today’s culture, dating is a free choice among people, except for arranged marriages. Although who you date is considered a person’s own choice, people often are bound by socially constructed cultural norms that determine what is acceptable sexual behavior, also known as sexual scripts. Sexual scripts that provide the norms regarding sexual behavior, varies between race/ethnicity, social class, and gender.