Abortion and why it should be legal
Introduction
I am personally interested in this topic because I am concerned with the lives of women who die due to unsafe abortions. Low-income women with unwanted pregnancies do not have access to safe abortions due to restrictive laws, high cost, third-party authorization, stigma, among other barriers. They engage in unsafe abortions, which lead to complications and death. Other people should be interested in this topic and support the legalization of abortion or support the elimination of legal obstacles so that women especially those from poor countries can access safe abortion and hence reduce the rate of maternal morbidity and mortality. The topic of legalization of abortion is important to a large group including women and the federal government. Women will benefit from abortion legalization in that they will have access to safe abortion and a reduction of maternal death. The government will also benefit in that it will have the power to control the unwanted birth though education and ultimately protect the lives of women. The paper argues that the government should allow women to end unwanted pregnancies and the legalization will save women's lives by preventing serious health complications because of unsafe abortion.
FIRST SECTION
Main argument
The government should protect women's right to choose abortion. The federal government at the legislative level should remove the financial and legal restrictions and provide women with access to abortion (Congressional Research Service, 14). The government should also provide women with adequate information on parenting skills. The government should target the sensitive population, that is; young and women from low-income countries and provide them with legalization access. It should also combine access and behavioral change. This means that the government should provide sexual education to reduce abortions (Congressional Research Service, 14). The main purpose of the federal government is to provide a National Abortion Care. This includes abortion services to women in poor and rural communities.
Logic response to abortion
Warriner & Shah (1) asserts that the government should legalize abortion to prevent unsafe abortions. First, it is important to understand that abortion is illegal. Therefore, women take a risk to commit abortion and finally, women, families, as well as society, bear the costs. Thus, it is logical to legalize abortion; that is, to help women move from unsafe abortion to safe abortion and this will improve their lives (Warriner & Shah, 3). For example, adolescents with unwanted pregnancies are likely to engage in unsafe abortion. Note that adolescents suffer from lack of financial resources and lack of knowledge about unsafe abortion and therefore they risk unsafe abortion and the consequences are infertility, among other complications that can affect their entire life (Warriner & Shah, 4). Thus, it is reasonable or practical to provide safe abortions rather than dealing with consequences that arise from unsafe abortion. It is the high time to eliminate unsafe abortions and its complications and hence eliminate mortality and morbidity. To see whether the legalization of abortion makes sense, the government should first understand that abortion is a health issue affecting women and youth worldwide. It is contributing to a high rate of mortality and morbidity. In global, about 210 million women become pregnant. Out of five women, one woman commits abortion. Out of 46 million abortions, 19 million abortions are unsafe (Warriner & Shah, 3). Developing countries such as Africa, South-East Asia, Europe, North America, and other countries commit a high rate of abortion. It is important to note that women commit unsafe abortion due to restrictions. The restrictions do not prevent women from committing abortion but they highly contribute to morbidity and mortality. Thus, it is reasonable to legalize abortion and make it safe.
The ethical response to abortion
Patil et al (545) applies the ethics of human rights and argues that women have the autonomy or right to choose. Another ethical principle is the right to life. Thus, abortion is morally justified in that women should have the right to have or not have children. Another ethical consideration is raising a malformed child. Some conditions such as congenital abnormalities such as neural tube defects, orofacial clefts, and others cause infant morbidity and mortality (Patil et al, 545). These abnormalities can be detected during pregnancy by the use of ultrasound. After the diagnosis, women may decide to continue or to terminate the pregnancy. On the ethical ground, it is important to consider factors like these to prevent the mother from raising a disabled child (Patil et al, 545). Thus, it is important to consider the ethical principles of autonomy and dignity and provide women with the right to chose.
Emotion response to abortion
Gerdts et al (401) argue that it is emotionally sound to legalize abortion in that women experience the burden of travel to seek an abortion and therefore the legalization will benefit them emotionally. It is important to understand that many countries have barriers to abortion such as waiting periods, poor clinical training, lack of trained providers, among other barriers such as geographical distance, lack of reimbursement, complicated approval practices, lack of confidential services and more (Gerdts et al, 402). Women who live in countries with such restrictions are forced to travel to other countries to seek abortion services. For example, in 2014, abortion cases for non-residents in the UK were 5521 (Gerdts et al, 401). This is an indication that women face abortion barriers and opt to travel abroad. When these women plan to travel abroad, they encounter other barriers such as lack of family support, lack of travel cost, race, and class challenges, among other barriers. Thus, it is emotionally sound to legalize abortion so that women access a safe abortion in their own country rather than traveling abroad. Note that these women suffer emotionally in that they need travel costs and time off work (Gerdts et al, 401). Moreover, they are mentally affected by the length of stay, traveling alone, and the cost of accommodation. Thus, the government should consider these factors and eliminate the barriers to safe abortion.
SECOND SECTION
Opposing side
Logic response
Adamek (27) states that legal abortion is associated with long-term adverse effects. One hundred and eight studies of induced abortion reported that abortion increases breast cancer. The other 2 studies reported the same. Out of the total 110 studies, only 29 studies lacked a link. In January 1973, the U.S Supreme Court legalized abortion. Between 1980 and 1998, the total cases of breast cancer were 40%. This happed after the legalization of abortion (Adamek, 27). In 1973, women aged below 40 were vulnerable to breast cancer but today, the aged ranges from 20 to 59. Abortion also is associated with psychological effects. In 1987 and 2000, a study was conducted and findings showed that women who committed abortion committed suicide (Adamek, 32). Another national sample found that women who committed abortion developed alcohol abuse behaviors.
Ethical responses
According to deontological ethics, God is the source of life and human being does not have the authority to end life. Thus, abortion is a sinful act because it goes against the law of the universe. Almost all religions including Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism condemn abortion (Stefan, 932). According to deontological ethics, it is evident that when a woman becomes pregnant, she should take care of the child. Here, women do not have a choice but she has a responsibility as commanded by the law of nature. Thus, women should do the right action, which is adhering to the rules. She should act as the moral agent and do the moral duties as commanded by the rational nature.
Emotional response
Rosett et al (506) argue that abortion contributes to psychological distress such as depression, suicidal attempts, self-mutilation, and others. Psychological distress occurs because abortion is a traumatic experience. After the traumatic event, women are likely to develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A study conducted in 2004 showed that 15% of women developed PTSD after abortion (Rousset, 507). After the abortion process, women lack social support, experience financial difficulties, pressure from a partner, feeling of shame, are some of the risk factors that contribute to PTSD. Therefore, abortion should be illegal to save women from developing PSTD.
THIRD SECTION
Fatal flaws of arguments against abortion
REBUTTAL 1
The big problem in the first argument against about abortion is that there are no studies to support that abortion increases the risk of breast cancer. Some pro-choice activists justify the illegality of abortion with distorting facts. Some health professionals such as David A. Grimes do not accept the facts. David A. Grimes says that those who are for abortion and breast cancer are non-physicians who lack knowledge (Adamek, 27). There is no link between breast cancer and abortion and several professional organizations such as the National Cancer Institute, Royal College of Obstetricians, World Health Organization, and others have disproved the claim.
REBUTTAL 2
The big problem in the second argument about abortion is that the arguments have an unproven rationally claim (Stefan, 932). It is easier to refute on this claim in that atheists and scientists might provide testable evidence and intersubjective verifiability to prove the claim wrong. The assumption relies on faith, which is revelatory and is derived from direct experiences. The faith is far from logical demonstration-relies on terms of premises and a true conclusion. In general, the argument has no neutral ground yet critics can provide evidence to unproven the claim.
REBUTTAL 3
The big problem in the third argument about abortion is that the argument lacks empirical data to link abortion with psychological distress (Rousset, 507). This argument is questionable in that how can a woman make a clear decision to terminate the pregnancy and later experience emotional harm. Instead, women who make sound decisions about the abortion gains an enhancing experience. However, women can develop emotional distress due to factors such as pressure to have abortion, mental health condition, among other factors. Thus, future research should show evidence of post-abortion syndrome. In the future, it is important to conduct a qualitative study to understand how medical and surgical abortion contributed to PTSD.
Conclusion
The research paper has changed my opinion on the topic. First, I once thought that only irresponsible women seek an abortion. I have learned that all women regardless of age, education, religion, and marital status can seek an abortion. Second, I once thought that all women with unwanted pregnancies who seek an abortion get relief. However, I have learned that not all women feel relieved. Some women do not make their own decision but they are forced by circumstances such as fetal abnormalities. These women prefer to terminate their pregnancy to avoid giving birth to an abnormal child. Such factors may influence women to developmental distress since it was not their wish to end the pregnancy but they were forced by conditions. Third, I once thought that when abortion is made illegal or forbidden by law, women would fear from engaging from unprotected sexual activities to reduce the risk of facing the law. However, I have learned that illegal abortion increases the rate of abortion, especially in low-income countries. I have also learned that abortion should be made legal so that women can have access to a safe abortion procedure.
During the research, I found that the aborting topic needs in-depth research to understand it more deeply. If I would get an opportunity to continue with research, I would like to expand the topic and include questions like; should the numbers of abortions be reduced? This question is important as it helps the government come up with other effective measures to prevent unwanted pregnancy. The second question is; should there be for-profit abortion clinics to expand the structure of health-care delivery? This question is important, as it will help understand whether there should be professional collaboration and allow women to access health care anywhere anytime.
Work cited
Adamek, Raymond J. “Legal Abortion Threatens Health and Fertility: Why Aren’t Women
Informed?” Human Life Review, vol. 43, no. 4, Fall 2017, pp. 27–37. EBSCOhost,
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Congressional Research Service. Abortion: judicial history and legislative response. 2019. Retrieved from: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL33467.pdf
Gerdts, Caitlin, et al. “Experiences of Women Who Travel to England for Abortions: An Exploratory Pilot
Study.” European Journal of Contraception & Reproductive Health Care, vol. 21, no. 5, Oct.
2016, pp. 401–407. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/13625187.2016.1217325.
Patil, Alka B., Pranil Dode, and Amruta Ahirrao. "Medical ethics in abortion." Indian Journal of Clinical
Practice 25.6 (2014): 544-548.
Rousset, C., et al. “Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Psychological Distress Following Medical and
Surgical Abortion.” Journal of Reproductive & Infant Psychology, vol. 29, no. 5, Nov. 2011, pp.
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Ştefan, Ionuţ. "Arguments for and against abortion in terms of teleological and deontological
theories." Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences 149 (2014): 927-935.Posttraumatic Stress
Disorder and psychological distress following medical and surgical abortion
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Research and Action. Guttmacher Institute, 2006. Retrived from: https://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/unsafe_abortion/0939253763.pdf
