Abortion: It's Implications, Interventions and Issues

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Abortion as a Medical Problem

In the nine-teeth century abortion became such a common practice that it then became a competition between doctors and midwives as to who could gain the most profit by performing the most abortions. This led to unsafe procedures, and risky techniques that in turn caused many botched abortions, some killing both the baby and mother, some killing only the mother, and some allowing for a handicapped child to be born. This became a widespread issue that eventually led to abortions being banned unless done by a physician to save the life of the mother. (Parrillo, 2008) Along with those obvious medical issues came the psychological pain and guilt that came along with many abortions. Naturally, when a woman realized that she had killed an innocent child it often led to depression, suicide, and other psychological hardships. (Parrillo, 2008)

Abortion as a Problem of Women’s Rights

Abortion as a problem of women’s rights is not just about the women’s right to decide whether she wants to give birth to a baby, or not. It encompasses a larger issue that women have been warring against for centuries – gender equality. (Chapman & Ciment, 2013) It has been largely argued that men have the right to decide if they want to be a part of their child’s life after finding out the mother is pregnant, but that women do not. If they become pregnant the next eighteen or so years are spent caring for that child, often-times alone. Another argument of gender equality in reference to abortion is the point that men can sleep around with as many women as they want and not have to worry about getting stuck with a child, whereas the more women sleep around, the higher their likelihood of getting pregnant. Women have argued that just like fathers have their right to “voluntary fatherhood,” that women deserve to have the right of “voluntary motherhood.” (Chapman & Ciment, 2013)

Abortion as a Moral Problem

The moral issues of abortion are mainly rooted in religious beliefs, but I would argue that they span much farther than mere religious law. The religious concern of abortion encompasses both sexual morality, and the sanctity of motherhood. (Chapman & Ciment, 2013) Beyond religious law, though, it is common law, and also common sense, that murder is wrong. Although some don’t look at abortion as murder, fundamentally that is exactly what abortion is – murdering an unborn child. Just because a child is not yet fully developed does not mean that they are not alive. If an expectant mother is murdered, the charges brought against the murderer are almost always double homicide or two counts of murder; the fetus counts as a life. (Chapman & Ciment, 2013) Why then is it that if only the fetus is murdered it does not count as a life? The duplicity in that mere fact, among many others is what causes abortion to be such a large moral problem.

Consideration and Conclusion

It is my belief that if we would come alongside women facing unwanted or untimely pregnancies to encourage them instead of condemn them, to link them up with services they are eligible for to help them instead of accuse them of being irresponsible, and to educate them on how to be great mothers and still be able to achieve their dreams instead of doubtfully point out to them how difficult it is going to be for them to face this situation, that we would be able to begin to mitigate this problem step by step. It is also my belief that if more women’s centers that rejoiced in life and it’s beauty would come forth that more women would truly believe that they have the strength to care for a child.

I also think that it is very important that women in these situations are aware of all of their options instead of abortion being the first and main solution thrown at them that they might be more willing to look into things such as adoption or group homes. As a child of adoption I see firsthand the beauty and joy that can come from an unplanned pregnancy resulting in a family lacking the ability to conceive to receive their dream. If these women only knew of that joy both for the child and adoptive parents, I wonder if that would influence their decision?

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References

Abortion. (1999). In W. Langley, Encyclopedia of human rights issues since 1945. Santa

Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.

Abortion. (2014). In E. Foner & J. Garraty (Eds.), The Reader's companion to American

history. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

Abortion. (2008). In V. Parrillo, Encyclopedia of social problems. Thousand Oaks, CA:

Sage Publications.

Abortion. (2013). In R. Chapman & J. Ciment (Eds.), Culture wars in America: An

encyclopedia of issues, viewpoints, and voices. London, United Kingdom: Routledge.

Planned Parenthood. (2013). In R. Chapman & J. Ciment (Eds.), Culture wars in

America: An encyclopedia of issues, viewpoints, and voices. London, United

Kingdom: Routledge.

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