ABORTION

Question: Suppose a woman gets pregnant by her partner and wants an abortion? Suppose her partner disagrees. Should her partner’s preference be given any weight in the decision? if yes, how much and why? If no, why not?

Overview

Abortion is a procedure that has become one of the most frequent in the medical practice particularly in the twenty first century, for women between the age of fifteen and forty four especially in the U.S (Jones et al. 1). It not only happens in the nations that it is legal but also in nations that it is outlawed.  The number of abortion s however declined in from 1982 and 2000 probably due to the recommendation of the drug mifepristone by FDA although it accounted for just six percent of all abortions in 2001 and 14% in 2005 (Jones et al. 1). In the U.S, it is estimated that 1 out of 5 pregnancies are aborted which portrays the extent of unwanted abortion in the nation. This indicates the need to eradicate unintended pregnancies through ensuring that women have access to effective contraceptive methods. Furthermore, abortion services have to be accessed easily especially for poor women whose rates of unintended pregnancies are high. This has come in handy with the introduction and integration of mifepristone in regions that surgical abortions are inaccessible to help access abortion services (Jones et al. 11). This paper shall address the reasons why a woman’s decision should be prioritized on whether to carry out an abortion, putting into consideration the nature of the fetus, her health and the morality of the procedure.

Abortion Debate

The debate surrounding it is very controversial since some insist on being pro-life while others advocate for pro-choice. Pro-choice, which is a sociopolitical movement embraces the moral perspective of the feminine rights to elective abortion.  Pro-life advocates on the other hand, argue for the fetus’ rights and outlawing of abortion. All the same, these two concepts are mere political framing, which misuse the usage of the term ‘rights’ (reproductive rights and rights for the unborn) (Naden 26). Pro-life activists could indirectly be against it since the unborn life, which they argue for, could endanger the life of the mother such that they all would die if the procedure is overlooked. In my opinion, pro-choice is prolife and women should be allowed to decide on their own (Kaczor 6).

The debate on Reproductive Rights has been faced with controversies not only by the legal systems but also by religious, health and social advocacy groups. In the U.S, this procedure is common and over forty percent of females terminates a pregnancy in the course of their reproductive life. In the U.S, abortion was legalized in 1973 by the Supreme Court, which ensured safe procedures and more so, gave women there reproductive rights. As a result, close to 1.2 million abortions are done annually in the U.S while globally, 20-30 million legal abortions are done annually and 10-20 million abortions are carried out illegal (Naden 7).

Legal Abortion and Reproductive Health

Illegal abortions are mostly conducted backstreet and compromise the reproductive health of women. These accounts for thirteen percent of fatalities in women while in the nations that it is legalized, such fatalities are unknown. Although there have been developed advanced birth control methods, quite a high number of women still get unplanned and unwanted pregnancies and therefore, many opt for abortion as an alternative to giving birth.

In the medical field, abortion remains highly controversial due to several factors including matters of teenage/minor pregnancy, spouses/parents consent, pregnancy viability, reproductive health, reproductive rights, emergency contraception and sexual assault among others. The issue of abortion triggers several legal, moral and health issues. Viability for instance, is not clear regarding the capability of the fetus to survive independently with stage of pregnancy in the course of the gestation period. Others believe that life starts at conception and therefore, the fetus is entitled to similar rights as a human (Naden 30). Moreover, some have argued that some fetus by no means achieve viability for instance those with neurological disorders and therefore, they can never survive independently.

The concept of intact dilation and extraction in relation to partial-birth abortion is another burning issue where the fetus is partially delivered alive in the vagina, and then killed before complete delivery during second trimester.  Specialists of reproductive health conduct abortion although medical training in this field is still minimal while some refuse to perform the procedure or dispense drugs for termination. It has been also argued that spouses have to give consent to approve abortion but in my opinion if the woman decides to terminate the pregnancy, the partner should by no means object it since she is entitled to her reproductive rights. While it is safer to have safe abortion than keep the pregnancy to term, legal abortion is safe and related infections or fatalities are minimal.

Reproductive and Bodily Rights

Women have rights to their lives and therefore, they should have freedom to make choices regarding their health, integrity, future and values (Lee 39). Abortion-rights supporters maintains that the decision to keep the pregnancy is an absolute personal choice with respect to her future, health and personal liberty and integrity so long as they are endowed with proper medical care. However, if the woman carries out an abortion, she should be counseled on proper use of contraceptives. Moreover, sex education is important for women who have attained the reproductive age.

A Woman should be in charge of her body and forcing her to keep a pregnancy against her wish is wrong. The fetus has no right to make use of another person’s body against her wishes similar to the scenario presented by kidney failure patients who can use another person’s kidney as dialysis machine but if he/she refute the idea and kill the patient, this act is permissible since it is against his/her wish.

Philosophically, the definition of a person as a self conscious being does not fit that of a developing fetus in the womb and therefore, not entitled to independent rights as a human being. Additionally, sexual equality is another aspect that in this case, the woman is entitled to make her independent decision regarding keeping or terminating the pregnancy regardless of her reasons. The spouse has no rights whatsoever to oppose her decision based on gender justification. Just as men, they can also decide to keep off from parenthood since the man who is also accountable for the pregnancy can decide to do so at will. If the partner makes the decision that the spouse should keep the child, this can be observed as female subjugation, which facilitates gender inequality. However, the extent to which the father should decide whether to keep or terminate an abortion is by itself an added debate (Gilda et al.  4).

Pre-Abortion Psychological Distress

When a woman realizes that she is pregnant and she is not in a position to carry the pregnancy to term or up bring a child, then she is subjected to psychological distress which compromises her health. Unplanned pregnancies subject the woman to a dilemma on whether to keep or terminate the pregnancy and this becomes worse when the spouse objects’ her decision to carry out an abortion. Such scenario presented in this case, triggers a great emotional upheaval in women. From studies, women who highly think of themselves prior to abortion have a higher likelihood of having positive emotions following the termination of the unwanted pregnancy (Martinelli-Fernandez & Lori 178). Such a woman feels confident and values her judgment due to freedom of choice regarding her reproduction with respect to her personal interests.

On the other hand, women who are not allowed to exercise control have reported depression, inferiority and anxiety. A woman could decide to induce abortion due to various factors such as age, which is a significant aspect of maturity where the response to pregnancy varies with age difference in women. Many minors are not affected psychologically as compared to those who are over 18 (Martinelli-Fernandez, and Lori 181). This however, might be complicated by parental response, coping mechanisms as well as minimal self efficacy (Martinelli-Fernandez & Lori 181). A HIV positive woman who falls pregnant could also be subjected to psychological distress since bearing a child could overburden her particularly when she is poor. Some, who have no access to proper medical care, to protect the unborn child from being infected, have no choice but to carry out an abortion to safeguard her welfare and that of the unborn (Lee 39). In this case, some women argue that there is no need to bring a HIV positive child to this world to suffer from stigma, poverty and poor health (Orner, Bruyn, and Cooper 3).

Another factor is financial stress where economic stability of a woman may influence her decision on whether to keep the pregnancy depending on whether she is in a position to support her kid. Poor women may fear to raise a child due to minimal economic resources, which deprives her autonomy to exercise freedom of choice. She therefore, internally feels guilty and ashamed since she has no choice of her own; emotionally she does not want the abortion but practically she is inclined to do it due to economic hardships which could threaten her mental well being (Martinelli-Fernandez, and Lori 182).

Conflict with personal values is another factor where a woman could act against her values (Martinelli-Fernandez, and Lori 182). She might undergo an abortion even when she knows it is wrong and this makes her to become emotionally distressed. Her opinion may not necessarily be reflected in her behavior due to societal influences and life encounters. For instance some women disregard abortion but could find themselves in a dilemma with unwanted pregnancy due to rape and could therefore opt to carry out an abortion. When she reaches at such option, she reassesses her values and this flexibility of choice is her freedom. In other setups, a woman could become pregnant at a tender age, carry out an abortion and later she adjusts moral stance, which makes her to regret her previous behavior (Kaczor 5).

This conflict could compromise her mental health due to emotional suffering from guilt mostly due to religious beliefs that portrays abortions as wrong. The only option to escape from social stigma might to carry out an abortion and consequently become spiritually distributed (Martinelli-Fernandez & Lori 183). Such conflicts could be political, social, and religious norms as well as interpersonal values. Therefore, it is important to consider the context under which a woman decides to carry out an abortion in relation to cultural dynamics that confronts her decision. Besides, it is important to undertake pre-abortion and post abortion examination for moral support or to address other underlying aspects that could distress her. Her religious beliefs for instance, could inflict her with inner conflict that could requires a therapist’s intervention hence address her emotional response to pregnancy or abortion. A feminist oriented counseling is essential to prevent a woman from harboring anger due to society suppression, which could create negative adjustment for her to come into sense with herself (Martinelli-Fernandez & Lori 186).

Post-Abortion Care

According to  research conducted on since 1966 to 2008, is was noted that that giving women Combined Oral Contraceptives (COC) immediately after first trimester abortion had no side effects nor did it prolong vaginal bleeding as compared to non hormonal birth control methods and IUDs (Gaffield, Kapp, and Ravi 1). From this research, after induced abortion, women seek reliable birth control measures. Therefore, providing COC immediately after abortion motivates them and this helps ovulation to resume two to three weeks following the termination of the pregnancy. Therefore, awarding them with contraceptive counseling is significantly crucial aspect of post-abortion care (Gaffield, Kapp, and Ravi 1: Wiebe et al. 1).

In 2003, 42 million induced abortions were carried out globally while this rate for females aged fifteen to forty four was estimated to be 29 per 1000 (Gaffield, Kapp & Ravi 1). In the United States in 2005 1.2 million abortions were carried out where the rate was 19.4 per 1000 females between fifteen and forty four (Jones et al. 1). The money paid for the procedure at ten weeks was 413 USD in the same year (Jones et al. 1) Therefore, giving women a chance for them to start a safe and reliable birth control measures following the abortion could help to minimize recurrence of unwanted pregnancies (Streatfield 3).

Recommendations and Conclusion

Induced abortion has remained an immense human rights dilemma, which indicates a need to pursue scientific as well as objective knowhow. Induced abortion is facilitated by inadequate contraception for 108 million women in developing nations, 51 million have unintended pregnancies and 25 million of these result from inconsistency in contraception (Sedgh et al. 1). All the same, data available is minimal while the actual data on the prevalence and incidence of induced abortion is hard to determine. There is a need to differentiate between safe and unsafe procedures due to public health concerns. Safe abortion has minimal health implications while unsafe one threatens the survival and overall female health. As a result WHO has initiated ways to enhance maternal health to minimize maternal motility in sixty three nations (Sedgh et al. 1). On the same note, the U.N Millennium Development Goals embraced in a hundred and eighty nine nations encompasses the ways of enhancing maternal health to decline their mortality ratio by three quarters from 1990 to 2015 (Sedgh et al. 1). Unsafe abortion results to financial costs, serous health problems, stigmatization and psychological distress in women (Sedgh et al. 1).

WHO continues to offer policy as well as technical help for accessibility of safe abortion including safe procedures during first trimester such as vacuum aspiration and medication, offering training to health clinicians, ensuring availability of facilities for safe abortion and ensuring post abortion care such as contraceptive counseling (Sedgh et al. 15). There is a need for enhancing effective methods for spouses who are on contraception to reduce unwanted pregnancies (Sedgh et al. 15). To sum it all, being pro-choice is being pro-life and when a woman is deprived her reproductive rights she is denied a right over her own life.

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Gaffield, Mary, Kapp Nathalie, and Ravi Anita. “Use of combined oral contraceptives post          Abortion.” Contraception 80. 4 (2009): 355-362. Web. I Dec. 2011.

Gilda, Sedgh, Stanley Henshaw, Susheela Singh, Elisabeth Ajman, and Iqbal Shah. “induced       abortion: estimated rates and trends worldwide .” The Lancet 370. 9595 (2007): 1338-  1345. Web. I Dec. 2011.

Jones, Rachel, Mia Zolna, Stanley Henshaw, and Lawrence Finer. “Perspectives on Sexual and     Reproductive Health: Abortion in the United States: Incidence and Access to Services,   2005.” Guttmacher Institute 40.1 (2008): 6–16. Web. I Dec. 2011.

Kaczor, Christopher. The Ethics of Abortion: Women’s Rights, Human Life, and the Question         of Justice. New York: Taylor & Francis, 2011. Print.

Lee, Ellie. Abortion, Motherhood, and Mental Health: Medicalizing Reproduction in The United    States And Great Britain. New York: Transaction Publishers, 2004. Print.

Martinelli-Fernandez, Susan, and Lori Baker-Sperry. Interdisciplinary Views On Abortion:            Essays From Philosophical, Sociological, Anthropological, Political, Health And Other   Perspectives. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc, 2009. Print.

Orner, Phillis, Bruyn Maria, and Cooper, Diane. “It hurts, but I don’t have a choice, I’m not          working and I’m sick’: decisions and experiences regarding abortion of women living            with HIV in Cape Town, South Africa.” Culture Health and Sexuality 13. 7 (2011): 781-        795. Web. I Dec. 2011.

Streatfield, Peter. “Role of Abortion infertility Control.” Journal of Health Nutrition and Population 19.4 (2001): 265-267. Web. I Dec. 2011.

Wiebe, Ellen, Trouton, Konia, and Fang,Zhe . “Comparing continuation rates and side effects of hormonal contraceptives in East Asian and Caucasian women after abortion.”            Contraception 78.5 (2008): 405-408.Web. I Dec. 2011.

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