Ethics
Abortion
Introduction:
Abortion is basically the finishing of the pregnancy by removing the
embryo or the fetus from the uterus. Any abortion that occurs suddenly is
called a miscarriage; And any abortion that is purposely or forcefully
caused or happened is called an induced abortion.
In the world, abortion is said to be one of the safest method in medicine.
Birth control medicines were used as a result in abortion. Nowadays, in
modern techniques they use medication as a surgery or operation.
Approximately there are 56 million abortions that are executed every year
in which 45% of them are not done safely.
Earlier, when there were no facilities to utilize abortions; they were done
by herbal medicines, forceful massage or by other customary methods.
Abortion is legal in particular cases such as rape, problems with the fetus
and etc.
Types of Abortion:
Induced
Miscarriage
Induced:
An abortion that is purposely or forcefully caused or happened is called
an induced abortion.
In the world there are approximately 205 millions pregnancies that are
occurring or taking place. And in the world many abortions are performed,
and most of the abortion are the induced one. The main causes of the
abortion are poverty, problems with the fetus, rape and the most common
one is the sex-selective abortion.
1. Poverty:
Poverty is considered the main cause of the abortion because due to lack
of facilities parents cannot give the good lifestyle to their children and
cannot afford their schooling, medical and most of all there
socioeconomic status is low so they abort their child.
2. Problems with the Fetus or Embryo:
There may be different problems with the fetus that sometimes occur.
Sometimes the baby does not grow inside or maybe there are physical
disabilities, functional or structural disorders. So in this case abortion is
the only solution.
3. Sex-Selective Abortion:
Ultrasound or Sonography they allow the parents to determine or to know
the sex before the birth. Because of this technology sex-selective abortion
is very common. The sex ending of the female is very common among
different states of the world. Male children are more preferred and are
given importance by the families instead of the females. So the parents
decide to abort their child. Usually the family wishes their first born to be
a boy.
4. Rape:
Pregnancy is the potential result of rape. Medically it has been studied
that rape is likely to lead to pregnancy as consensual sexual intercourse.
Rape is a crime. If a woman becomes pregnant because of being sexually
assaulted abortion is sometimes offered as a way to “fix” the rape.
Miscarriage:
Miscarriage is the sudden occurred abortion that takes place or you can
say that it is the natural death of the embryo or the fetus before it is able
to outlive of the uterus. The common cause of the miscarriage is the
vaginal bleeding with or without pain. The main factors of miscarriage
are previously miscarriage, obesity, diabetes, thyroid problems and drug
or alcohol use, food poisoning and hormonal abnormalities
Society and Culture:
Ethical, moral, philosophical, biological, religious and legal issues or
problems which surrounds abortion are interconnected to value systems.
Thoughts or opinions of abortions are all about the fetal rights,
government authority and women rights. In which the circumstances or
conditions arises where the interest of the mother dispute with the interest
of her unborn child occur a dilemma or difficulty whether she really
wants to abort her child or not.
Modern Abortion Law:
Religious, moral and cultural discrimination continue to effect the
abortion laws throughout the world. The right to life, the right to liberty,
the right to security of the person, and the right to reproductive health are
main or major issues of human rights. These rights are considered as the
reason for the existence or the absence of law which controls or handles
abortion.
In many places, abortion are illegal. They carries a heavy social dishonor.
In areas where abortion is legal, there are different processes that takes
place before the abortion. Before the woman have a safe abortion, legal
abortion. The requirements depend upon the age of the fetus or the
embryo.
Some other order require a waiting period before the process, which
states that the parents should be contacted if their minor daughter requests
an abortion. The other orders are that if there is a risk to a woman life, the
abortion does not takes place because it is not allowed medically.
History and Religion:
In history, abortions have been done using herbal medicines, forceful
massage or by other customary methods. Pregnancies were ended by a
number of methods and techniques.
Aristotle, criticized abortion as a means of population control. He only
encouraged abortion in the case with the depletion that it must be
practiced on it before it has maintained sensation and life; in the line
between lawful and unlawful abortion will be marked by the fact of
having sensation and being alive.
In Christianity, Pope Sixtus V (1585-90) was the only one who said that
abortion is a murder despite of the stage of pregnancy. Most of its history
Catholic Church was sub divided on whether they believed that abortion
was a murder, though it did not started strongly.
In 1995 a survey report conducted that Catholic women are most likely to
end the pregnancy than the Protestants women and the Evangelist
Christians are the one who are least likely to end a pregnancy.
Islamic Customs has allowed abortion until the point where Muslims
believe that the soul enters the fetus or embryo, examined by different
theologians to be at the creation or formation, 40 days after the creation
or formation, 120 days after the formation or quickening. Moreover,
abortion is heavily restricted in the areas of the high Islamic faith such as
the Middle East and the North Africa.
In 1935 Nazi, Germany a law was passed in which it was stated that
women examined of German stock were stopped from having abortions.
In the second half of the 20th Century abortion was legalized in greater
number of different countries.
Reference:
Doan, Alesha E. (2007). Opposition and Intimidation: The abortion wars
and strategies of political harassment. University of Michigan.
