Table of Contents
Introduction
Abortion is looked at wrong by many citizens, but it is also looked at as right by many citizens. Some people feel that an abortion is sometimes necessary. The woman may have been raped is a primary reason. The U.S. Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade proclaimed the procedure a fundamental right, people still think it is wrongdoing. Abortion is killing an unborn baby. Killing is murder.
Background
Abortion has always been legal in the United States. In the past, abortion was openly advertised and regularly performed. In the mid 1800s, states began passing laws that made abortion illegal. Abortions were very risky in the past. There was not any medication available for them. Between the 1880s and 1973, many women were either killed or had serious injuries after trying to self inducing their abortion or going to an untrained person. Between 1967 and 1973, some states repealed their criminal abortion laws. The 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade made it possible for women to get safe, legal abortions from well trained professionals.
In the United States, 42 states require an abortion to be performed by a licensed physician. 45 states allow individual health care providers to refuse to participate in an abortion. 42 states allow institutions to refuse to perform abortions. 43 states prohibit abortions, generally except when necessary to protect the woman’s life or health, after a specified point in pregnancy. The United States have requirements that you have to meet in order to continue through with an abortion. (“An Overview of Abortion Laws”, 2018).
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In other countries such as Ireland, legal abortion is highly restricted. They look at abortion as a criminal act unless to save the life or long term health of the mother. As a result, an average of 39 abortions are performed per year. This does not stop women from getting abortions. Most women travel elsewhere to have the procedure done, or they buy an abortion pill. Politicians continue to block change when it comes to reforming the abortion laws.
Projected Outcomes & Intended Consequences
When they legalized abortion, women were able to decide who, when , and whether they want to have children. Before the legalization of abortion, women would go to unlicensed physicians to receive an abortion. Rates of serious crime in the United States dropped greatly throughout the 1990s for virtually all offenses. John Donohue and Steven Levitt have argued that this reduction relates strongly to the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized the abortion of unwanted pregnancies. (Hay, Evans, 2006). Risk factors are something that increases risk. Some risk factors surrounding abortion are being pressured to terminate a pregnancy, existing mental illness, and a history of physical complications. Protective factors are skills, traits that eliminates risk. Some protective factors surrounding abortion is having a supportive family, economic opportunities, and cognitive ability.
Impact on Families
Abortion does not only affect the person that is having it, but it also affects the family. Abortion can lead to certain health problems. “Induced abortion before 32 weeks’ gestation will impede the natural maturation process in the breast such that there is a significantly greater probability that breast cancer will develop later.” (American College of Pediatricians) No woman wants to risk having a higher chance of breast cancer. Your family will be very worried to hear you have a higher chance of having breast cancer. There is a higher risk of a woman dying in the years after an induced abortion than after giving birth. If you wait after 12 weeks to have an induced abortion, the risk of mortality is higher than having the abortion as soon as possible.
Abortion also can affect your plan to have future children. Majority of the time women will want to have a child at some point in life after having an abortion. When a mother is young, sometimes they consider an abortion unless the mother is at harm during pregnancy. For example, Sue is 16 and just found out she was pregnant. Her family may not be able to support a newborn baby. Sue decides to get an abortion. More than likely, Sue will want to have kids in the future. If Sue has complications from her abortion, she may not be able to have kids in the future. This could also affects the person who is wanting to have kids with Sue as well.
Abortion can cause psychological damage as well. “A peer-reviewed study published by the Southern Medical Journal of more than 173,000 American women found that women who aborted were 154% more likely to commit suicide than women who carried to term.” (ProCon.org) I feel like some women are pressured into getting an abortion. They may not be married to the person they are pregnant by. They may not be financially ready to have a baby. It could be a number of reason to be pressured into having an abortion. It does affect the woman as a person. They may think they have done the right thing through society’s eyes. However going through an abortion, the woman may feel less of a woman.
Conclusion
To conclude, the Roe v Wade decision allowed women to have more control over their body. Abortion became legal. This made safe abortion available for women. An alternate action that could take place is allowing the woman a safe abortion if her or the unborn baby health is not safe. However, I hope most women who become pregnant does not take that option.
References
- An Overview of Abortion Laws. (2018, October 03). Retrieved from https://www.guttmacher.org/state-policy/explore/overview-abortion-laws
- Induced Abortion: Risks That May Impact Adolescents, Young Adults, and Their Children: American College of Pediatricians – August 2016. (2018). Issues in Law & Medicine, 33(1), 85–112. Retrieved from https://libez.lib.georgiasouthern.edu/login?url=https://search-ebscohost-com.libez.lib.georgiasouthern.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=fth&AN=129561637
- Hay, C., & Evans, M. M. (2006). Has Roe v. Wade Reduced U.S. Crime Rates?: Examining the Link Between Mothers’ Pregnancy Intentions and Children’s Later Involvement in Law-Violating Behavior. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 43(1), 36–66. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022427805275187
- History of Abortion. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://prochoice.org/education-and-advocacy/about-abortion/history-of-abortion/
- Nye, J. L. (2017). Abortion Is Not Just About the Role of Womenin Society, but Also the
- Pierson, C., & Bloomer, F. (2017). Macro- and Micro-Political Vernaculizations of Rights: Human Rights and Abortion Discourses in Northern Ireland. Health And Human Rights, 19(1), 173–186. Retrieved from https://libez.lib.georgiasouthern.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mnh&AN=28630550
- ProCon.org. (2018, July 2). Abortion ProCon.org. Retrieved from http://abortion.procon.org/
